


Boarding Up Our Hearts

by orphan_account



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-11 04:39:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 57,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3314306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard Way lost his best friend Frank Iero when he was just ten years old. No, Frank's not dead, he just moved away. Now, six years later, Gerard, his younger brother, Mikey, and their neighbor and friend Pete Wentz are going to a new boarding school. On his first day, Gerard finds someone he thought was lost forever. Pete's new roommate is this boy called Patrick, who is so sweet and innocent, but that doen't mean he's okay. None of them are really "okay".  Whether it's their homophobic and disapproving fathers, or simply their own heads messing with them, they all have prblems they need to overcome. Can they all help each other? </p>
<p>(that sounds angsty it's not really that angsty. Also that description is so cheesey, I'm sorry I'm not that good at decriptions. This is also being posted by me on Wattpad and I have the same username over there)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So this is my first Frerad and Peterick fic ever! I'm super excited about this! This chapter is mainly Frerard, and Patrick is introduced next chapter. (Also I'm so bad at descriptions its so vague and cheesy)  
> This whole story is being edited by the lovely twenty-one-hunters from tumblr (I don't now if she has an account on here)
> 
> Word Count: 2,116

"Gee!" The 10 year old Frank Iero yelled. He ran next door, where his best friend lived and was currently playing outside with his younger brother.

"Frankie!" Gerard, or 'Gee', called back as his best friend ran over to him. Mikey, Gerard's younger brother, walked into their house after mumbling something about food. "We're playing super heroes! Wanna -- what's wrong?" He changed what he was saying mid sentence when he saw Frank was close to tears. Frank wrapped his small arms around Gerard. He hugged his friend as a few tears sliding down his face and dripping onto the other boy's shoulder.

"Frankie talk to me! What's wrong?" Gerard questioned, enveloping his smaller friend in a hug.

"M-My p-parents are m-moving us across the state! I c-can't go to school with you guys anymore!" The shorter boy wailed.

"Don't worry Frankie," Gerard whispered. "We'll keep in touch, we'll see each other again, I promise."

** ~ Six Years Later ~ **

"Have you got the rest of your stuff?" Mrs. Way yelled up the stairs to her son Mikey.

"Yeah Mom!" Mikey called back, "Is Mrs. Wentz here yet?"

"Not yet! She will be soon! Hurry up!" She opened the door to the the basement, where the room of her oldest son was. "Gerard! Hurry up! Mrs. Wentz will be here soon!"

"All my stuff is in the living room, except my backpack!" Gerard yelled back, climbing up the stairs. There was a towel on his head, covering his hair, which he was rubbing dry. "Hey how does this look?" He pulled the towel away, showing his dyed, bright red hair.

"Sweet Jesus Gerard! Is that what you were doing this morning?" His mother demanded.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" He asked.

"I heard you bumping things around at five in the morning," she said.

"Oh yeah, I knocked an easel over," he told her. Right then, Mikey walked down to the living room where they were standing.

"Nice hair," he said, glancing up from his phone briefly.

"Mrs. Wentz and Pete are here!" Their mother yelled, and Gerard dashed down the stairs to grab his forgotten backpack.

Today was the day Gerard, Mikey, and Mikey's best friend who just so happened to be their neighbor, Pete, would be moving to a boarding school. Apparently, it was a 'great school' and 'an honor for them to attend'. They were only going because Mr. Way wanted 'the best for his sons', which was kind of ironic seeing that he was always away on business. Their mother usually was too, but she actually made time for her sons and cared about them. Pete was going only because they were. Even though he was Gerard's age, he was always closer to Mikey, but still got on with Gerard quite well.

Their classes didn't start for a week, but they had to be there by Wednesday. It was only Monday, so they figured: why not be early? Gerard had wanted to tell Frank, who he still talked to. They hadn't seen each other in six years, so they would always text, but Frank was at a summer camp that had crappy phone service. He had gotten home yesterday, but had to pack. He didn't tell Gerard what was he was packing for though.

Gerard grabbed his backpack, which had some notebooks and folders for school in it. His sketchbook and personal notebook were in there as well, along with some randomly selected pens and pencils.

He trudged back up the stairs and saw Pete and Mikey grabbing some of the bags. Gerard grabbed his duffel bag and a suitcase near him. He and Mikey each only had two bags, but the younger had his bass and amp. The three of them could carry everything between them and load Mrs. Wentz's mini van without any problems. She offered to give them all a ride because her car was the biggest. The brothers hugged their mother goodbye and got into what Mikey always referred to as the 'Wentz Mobile'. They were sitting in the back seats while Pete occupied the passenger seat. The school was an hour's drive away. They'd get there by about eleven or so.

"So we agreed that we're gonna go to our rooms, meet roommates if they're there, maybe unpack, and meet in the dining hall for lunch. Oh and we can invite the roomies, in case they want to join," Pete said, turning around in his seat to face them. They both just nodded in reply. "Nice hair by the way Gerard. It suits you. It's flamboyant," he told Gerard, in his usual scatter-brained manner, before winking.

"Gerard dyed his hair?" Mrs. Wentz asked, not having seen him properly yet.

"Bright red!" Pete said, flopping back into his seat so he was sitting the correct way.

"Ooh! I bet all the boys will love it!" She giggled. Gerard was gay, _very_ gay, and it was no secret. Well, it wasn’t a secret to anyone except for his very homophobic father.

"Mrs. Wentz!" Gerard fake whined, causing her to giggle. She was like a second mother to the Way boys.

After a few minutes and many questions later, Gerard pulled his phone and earbuds out of his bag, blasting Iron Maiden. He continued working on the comic he had created, one about vampires and zombies, which wasn’t anything different for him.

They arrived at the school and walked into the main building, leaving their bags with Mrs. Wentz in the car. They got their schedules, their room assignments, and their room keys from the extremely rude and judgemental lady at the administration desk. They grabbed their bags again, going to say goodbye to Pete's mother before splitting up to go to their rooms. They were all in the same building, so the only split was to different floors. Mikey and Pete were both on the same floor, with Gerard's room being on the floor above theirs.

Gerard lugged his stuff up the stairs and was panting by the time he reached the third floor. He was in room 304C -- building C, third floor, room 4 -- which he, surprisingly, found rather quickly. He opened the door and saw a boy, who he could only assume was his roommate. The boy was taking things off the bed he had claimed, and putting them in the trunk at the foot of it. He had claimed the bed at the far side of the room. Gerard's roommate seemed...interesting. He had a curly afro that fell in front of his face while he was leaning over the trunk.

"Um...hi, I'm Gerard," Gerard said awkwardly waving at the other boy.

The other looked up, "Oh! Hey! I'm Ray, your roommate. That's obvious, sorry," he said shyly. "It's your first year, right?"

"Yup," Gerard said. "I'm a Junior but it's my first year here."

"Oh cool, I'm a Junior too," Ray said.

"Awesome," Gerard told him, smiling, "Hey, my brother wanted to meet up with me for lunch. He's a year younger than I am. Oh and uh this may seem kind of forward, but do you want to come?"

"Oh! Sure," Ray said, shrugging.

"Oh cool. He texted me to say that our friend and neighbor Pete will be there. Well, I already knew that, but apparently some guys named Bob and Frank will be there too," Gerard said, throwing the heavy burden that he had been carrying onto the free bed.

"Oh! Those guys are my friends! It's usually just the three of us, but now you guys too, that's great! Oh and Patrick, how'd I forget him? And Jamia too sometimes. I'm kind of forgetful!" Ray told him sheepishly. "Oh and just a warning, we aren't really ‘well liked’. If you're 'popular', I wouldn't hang out with us."

"No, we're like the opposite of that. And Pete's pretty scatter brained and bipo -- uh I'm just used to it," Gerard said, figuring he shouldn't give away the mental disorder his friend had _just_ yet. "Besides, you seem really cool," he gestured to the Blink-182 tee-shirt Ray was wearing.

They walked down to the dining hall, talking about music and comic books the whole way. When they got to their destination, they noticed Mikey and Pete were sitting with two guys -- one had black hair and a pierced nose, lip, and ears. The other had blonde hair and a pierced lip.

"Hey Gee," Mikey said, "this is Frank and Bob, his friend." He pointed to black haired boy and blonde haired boy, respectively revealing their names as Frank and Bob.

"GERARD MOTHER FRICKING WAY!" Frank yelled, throwing himself into Gerard's arms and hugging him.

"Uh, do I know you?" Gerard asked, confused and slightly scared.

"You don't remember me?" Frank asked, removing himself from Gerard's arms and  mock pouting. "How about now?" He made his high pitched voice like a child's and said, "We'll be best friends forever, Gee!"

"FRANKIE?!?" Gerard yelled.

"Yup!" He said, ruffling Ray's fro and walking to his chair, sitting back down. "So Princess Fro Fro here is your roomie?" Gerard nodded.

"Remember, you have to wait until next Monday to change roommates," Bob added, referring to Ray and Gerard’s living arrangement.

"Hey!" Ray yelled indignantly, "I'm a good roommate! Unlike some people," he looked pointedly at a group of boys. The jocks.

"You seem cool so I believe it," Mikey said, "What's up Pete? You look like you’re going to start steaming from the ears."

"My roommate isn't here yet and what if he's a psychopath?" Pete whined. "Or worse, what if he's a jock?" He looked absolutely disgusted at this possibility.

Mikey sighed, "Peter, you play soccer, you could be considered a jock."

"Well, Michael, I'm actually a nice person unlike those douche canoes," Pete whined, shoving Mikey and laughing.

"What ever you say Peter," Gerard sassed.

"SHUT IT GERALD!" Pete screamed, causing nearly everyone to turn around and go silent. Bob broke the silence by laughing like an idiot at the whole scene.

"Anyway," the blonde said, as the jocks and popular kids all went back to their own petty conversations, "Patrick's not here yet, he's coming tomorrow. How funny would it be if he was your roommate? Patty's a good guy, you'll like him."

"I hope so..." Pete trailed off as a girl with short black hair approached them.

"Jamia! Hey babe!" Frank called to the girl. He stood up and kissed her cheek when she approached.

"Hi," she said, "I need to talk with you, come on." She grabbed his hand and lead him into the hallway.

"That's his girlfriend," Ray said even though it was painfully obvious.

Dammit, Gerard thought, Frank's straight. But he's so hot! It's not fair! Ugh I need to get over this crush.

It's been a year since it developed, even though you only ever talked to him over text -- but good luck, part of his brain said sarcastically.

"Oh dude guess what!" Bob yelled to Ray. "Frank's stuck rooming with Brian."

"Ooh that's rough," Ray said.

"Who's Brian?" Pete asked.

"Total neat freak. Any mess in the room and he flips out. It's really bad. Franks pretty messy too. Oh and Brian's not allowed to switch roommates because no one wants to share with him. He's a great guy, just has really bad OCD. Like the taps the light switch eight times before turning on a light type of OCD," Bob told them.

"Wow, that's unfortunate," Gerard said.

"Yup," Bob agreed, "they have the room next to yours, Ray, so enjoy the fighting." He pat Ray on the fro before getting his hand swatted away.

Frank didn't return the whole rest of the half hour they were sitting there eating and throwing crap at each other, as if they’d all been friends for years. Gerard walked back to his dorm, Ray having decided to hang out with Bob, and came across Frank outside his room with his head in his hands.

"You okay Frank?" Gerard asked, sitting next to him.

"No! Jamia cheated on me over summer break! She fucked some guy! That little bitch!" He screamed, slamming his fist into the wall behind him.

"Oh I'm sorry. She seemed kind of bitchy anyway," Gerard said.

Frank laughed and wiped his eyes, "Thanks Gee," he said, laying his head on Gerard's shoulder. "You're a great friend."

_I wish I could be more_ , Gerard found himself thinking. He obviously didn't say that, he just smiled at Frank and hugged him.

_But having him this way is better than not having him at all_ , Gerard thought, making him smile even more, as he lay his head on Frank's.

 


	2. The Rommate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pete gets his roommate (What did you think the title meant?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have chapter two. It's the shortest chapter so far (one of these is like 7,000 words which is a record for me)

Come the next morning, Pete was still terrified to meet his roommate. He was pacing the hall of his dorm's floor, probably wearing a dent into it. He stopped when there was a loud crash, that sounded like something falling down the nearby staircase, and rushed towards the sound. 

"Darn it! Ugh!" A voice yelled. 

_ That was utterly adorable _ _,_ Pete thought. 

He reached the stairs and saw a really short guy in a Twenty One Pilots shirt and skinny jeans trying to waddle down the stairs to grab a suitcase he dropped. The boy had a backpack on that was clearly over stuffed, two guitar cases, and a small amp in his hands. A black fedora was lying on the stairs next to the dropped suitcase. 

"Woah dude! That's a lot of stuff!" Pete exclaimed, as he jogged past the strawberry blonde boy to grab the fallen suitcase. He picked up the fedora and placed it on the smaller boy's head, earning him a small smile. Pete grabbed one of the guitars and took it along with the suitcase he had grabbed up the stairs as he walked side by side with the other boy. 

"Holy smokes thank you so much!" The guy said to Pete, blushing. 

"No problem, which room are you in?" Pete asked, smiling at the shorter boy. 

"204C," he told him, after looking at the slightly crumpled paper in his hands. 

"Oh cool! That's my room! I guess you're my roommate! I'm Pete!" 

"Patrick, I'd shake your hand but well..." the boy said, smiling, and trying to push his glasses up with his wrist since his hands were full. They just slipped down again, so Pete switched the suitcase to his other hand, leaned forward, and pushed them up for him. 

"Thanks Pete," Patrick said, blushing. 

"No problem Patrick. Oh! You're Patrick! Do you know Bob and Frank? They mentioned a Patrick who was their friend. Love your shirt by the way. Oh how funny Bob said you might be my roommate he's like psychic or something. I'm rambling now I'm sorry."

Patrick chuckled, "It's fine, it's kinda cute." He seemed to realize what he said and blushed, "I-I mean--" he stuttered. 

"No it's fine!" Pete reassured him, chuckling. He twisted the knob of the door and used his foot to kick it open. He held it so the other boy could slip inside. "Casa de Pete and Patrick! Even though it's not a house and therefore isn't technically a casa..." Patrick laughed and set his stuff down on the unoccupied bed. 

"Casa de Peterick has a better ring to it," Patrick speculated. 

Pete smirked, "What? Are you shipping us now?" He flopped down onto his bed and crossed his arms behind his head. 

"N-No, uh, I-I--" Patrick stuttered before Pete cut him off with a laugh. 

"It's fine I was kidding don't worry. But I wouldn't mind being shipped with someone as cute as yourself," Pete told him, still smirking, and added a wink, causing Patrick's blush to return. 

Pete could've sworn he heard Patrick mumble something along the lines of  _ " I'm not as cute as you that's for sure," _ but he didn't want to call the other boy out on it. 

"So, what grade are you in?" Patrick asked, as he pulled clothes out of his suitcase and started putting them in the trunk at the foot of his bed.

"Junior. What about you?" Pete said. 

"Sophomore."

"Hmm. You seemed older. And younger at the same time."

Patrick laughed, "Well I'm nearly sixteen, I got a late start on school. And I probably look younger because of my literal baby face."

"But your baby face is so cute!" Pete yelled, jumping off the bed and pinching Patrick's cheeks like an over friendly aunt. 

Patrick laughed and swatted Pete's hand away. "You're weird. I like that." He looked over to the corner and saw a red and black guitar of some sort. "You play?" 

"Oh yeah, bass. I noticed you play too. Any other instruments other than guitar?"

"Uh yeah. I can play guitar, obviously. Then there's bass, piano, drums, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, mandolin, and synthesizer." 

Pete let out a low whistle. "If you sang, you'd be a one man band."

"WelluhIdosingbutI'mnotverygood," he said quickly. 

"Come again?" 

"I do sing but I'm not very good," he admitted sheepishly. 

"I bet you're great! But I won't make you sing. But if you want to ever, I'll be willing to listen."

"Okay, someday I will sing for you, I promise." 

Patrick looked Pete straight in the eye as he said this, causing them both to smile. The moment was interrupted by a loud crash from and a voice screaming "SHIT". 

"That sounded like Ray," Patrick said, biting his lip on concern. 

"He and my friend Gerard do have the room above us..." Pete informed him. 

"GODDAMMIT GERARD!" Ray screamed again. 

"I'M SORRY!" Another voice, presumably Gerard's screamed back. 

"Come on let's see what those idiots did," Patrick said. He grabbed Pete's wrist and ran out of the room, dragging the other boy with him. They ran up the stairs, laughing at Patrick's antics. 

          They knocked on the door to Gerard and Ray's room. "Hey we heard your lover's quarrel from downstairs open up!" Pete yelled. 

         Gerard opened the door and said, "First of all, we're not lovers. Second shut the fuck up and get in here you piece of shit, Wentz." Patrick giggled causing Gerard to notice him. 

         "Who's this?" Gerard asked. 

         "My roommate, Patrick," Pete said as Patrick waved. 

        "'Roommate', sure," he said looking down to where Patrick was still holding Pete's wrist. The both blushed and Patrick let go, following Gerard into the dorm. He then promptly slammed the door, and they were faced with an angry looking Ray, who was standing on one foot and holding the other. 

"So what happened?" Patrick asked. 

"Firetruck boy over here knocked the lamp off my desk and onto my bare feet, and it broke. I'm pretty sure there's lamp matter in my foot now," Ray said, glaring at Gerard. 

"That sucks for you!" Patrick teased, ruffling the fro. 

"Shut it Stump," Ray hissed. 

"Your last name is Stump?" Pete asked. 

"Yeah and I'm the height of one, I've heard it all before," he snapped at the other boy, crossing his arms, and glaring. 

"No I wasn't gonna say something like that, I swear! I just didn't know what your last name was!" Pete defended, going wide eyed. 

"Oh, sorry, people usually say something like that when they find out my last name and I'm sick of it. At least Frank's my height too, he'd tease me about it relentlessly," Patrick said. "Anyway, how do you plan on getting a new lamp?"

"I guess we're not," Ray growled, still glaring at Gerard, who just smiled at him sheepishly. 

"I'm gonna go find the buildings my classes are in!" Gerard squeaked, before sprinting out of the room. 

Patrick burst out laughing at Gerard's fear, confusing Pete. "Ray's like the nicest guy ever, he'd never do anything to Gerard," he explained. Pete just nodded in understanding. 

"I should probably figure out where my classes are too," Pete said.

"I'll show you around!" Patrick said, "uh if you want."

"Sure Trick!" Pete said smiling. 

"Trick?" Patrick inquired, smirking and raising an eyebrow. 

Pete blushed, "Uh um well uh," he stuttered "OH SHUT UP! It's a nickname it has been chosen it will forever be kept," he screamed causing Patrick to laugh. 

The headed out if the room with Ray calling, "Wear protection you two!" after them. 

"I'll keep that in mind!" Pete yelled back, laughing. 

They returned to their dorm a couple hours later, after Patrick had shown Pete where everything important was. Pete would stil, no doubt get lost on his way to all his classes. They already been down to dinner with all of their friends, making it around 8-ish at night.

Patrick quietly walked over to his bed, pulled out an old looking black notebook, and his acoustic guitar. He started playing a song that seemed really familiar to Pete, but he couldn't place the tune. When he finished that song, Pete asked if they could have some background music, and gestured to his phone. Patrick nodded, placing his guitar down and picking up his notebook and a pencil. Pete plugged his phone into his speakers, blasting Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

_ That's what Patrick's playing! _ Pete realized. He laughed, and started to sing off-key. Patrick laughed at his antics, increasing his laughter when Pete jumped onto his bed and started fake playing his bass. 

Holiday came on next and Pete hopped off the bed, set his bass down, jumped back up, and started dancing. Patrick was laughing too hard to focus on the writing whatever he was writing, so he set his stuff down and watched his roommate hop around the dorm like an idiot. 

_ An adorable idiot _ , Patrick thought.  _ No shush brain! He's straight stop! You don't know what you're getting yourself into! Crushing on a probably homophobic straight guy! _

No heterosexual man would call you cute as many times as he did , part of him argued.  _ Or be fine with being shipped with you.  _

Patrick laughed as Pete "performed" a few more songs, before it was the 9 o'clock noise curfew. He yawned, really loudly, causing Pete to giggle. Patrick stuck his tongue out at the slightly taller boy, causing more giggles to erupt from the brunette. 

Patrick threw his fedora like a frisbee, hitting Pete right in the face, before laughing and running off the bathroom to change into his pajamas. When he emerged, Pete was standing in the middle of the room, clad only in boxers. He smirked when he saw the slight pink tinge on the younger boy's cheeks. Patrick just flopped onto his bed, burrowed himself into his blankets. There was a loud crunching sound, his glasses bending because he forgot to take them off. He threw them onto the bedside table, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

Pete sighed, wishing sleep was that easy for him. He shut off the main light before climbing into his own bed. "Night Trick," he whispered in the darkness, not expecting, and not getting, a reply from the other boy. 

Many hours later, well after three in the morning, he finally got his insomniatic brain to shut up, and managed to drift off to sleep. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three will be up when my editor is able to finish with it!


	3. Sleep, Music, And Brendon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently my friend had finished editing a while ago. Oops.

Friday morning rolled around, and it was orientation day. Bob had explained to Gerard, Mikey, and Pete that that basically meant they went to the auditorium at noon and sat there for an hour, while there was the whole 'Welcome and Welcome Back!' speech that was really just a huge waste of time.

Patrick found himself sitting at the end of the row of seats with Frank next to him.

"So Toro told me you liked Pete," Frank whispered in a sing-song voice.

"N-No! I-I d-don't like P-Pete!" Patrick whispered back, voice taking on the stutter he got when he was nervous, which was a lot.

Frank just laughed, causing Gerard, who was next to him, to turn to look at him raising his eyebrows. Pete was next to Ray who was next to Gerard so he couldn't hear anything that was going on, thankfully.

"I can't have a crush on him!" Patrick whisper yelled.

"Why not?" Frank asked.

"One, he's straight. Two, I've known him like three days, it's impossible for me to develop feelings that quickly, I don't even know him! But I will admit, I may eventually fall deeper into this tiny crush I have. I mean, you can't deny, that Pete's pretty hot, like really hot," he said, sighing like a schoolgirl gossiping with her friends over her crush.

"That's pretty true," Frank said.

"What happened to 'Mr. Frank Heterosexual Iero?" Patrick asked, smirking.

"Well uh..." Frank said, scratching the back of his neck. Patrick's eyebrow rose up to hide in his fedora and Frank sighed. "It may be 'Mr. Frank Bisexual Iero' now. Uh...has been for like three months," he smiled sheepishly at Patrick, who smiled hugely.

"Yay you finally admit it! Bob owes me 10 bucks ha!" Patrick yelled, pumping his fist.

"You bet on my sexuality with Bryar?!?" Frank basically screamed. Patrick nodded, with an innocent smile on his face. "Well I made a bet with him whether you and Pete would be a thing or not by the Halloween Ball!" Frank huffed. "I said you would, it's so obvious. And when I'm right, Bryar owes me 20 bucks!"

"So if Pete and I get together on Halloween, do I still need to buy you a birthday present?" Patrick laughed.

"Oh hell yes you do," Frank yelled, "You get me a gift either way you shit. And none of those stupid couple gifts from you and Pete, like 'We bought you this we hope you love it!' NOT ALLOWED!"

Patrick laughed and was about to reply, before the headmaster called for them to be silent. Patrick decided to pay attention, but that was a little hard with Frank next to him who had decided to do the opposite. For some reason, Gerard had a black Sharpie marker in his pocket, which Frank stole. He grabbed Patrick's hand, pushed up his friends hoodie sleeve, and decided to draw all over his arm. Once he had an entire sleeve up to his elbow of Sharpie tattoos, Frank pulled his sleeve back down. He threw the marker at the now sleeping Gerard, who jolted awake.

"Wake up, Way!" He whisper shouted, then giggled. Gerard glared at him, then hiccuped really loudly. Well, he sounded like he was being strangled, but it was a hiccup. His hand flew over his mouth and his eyes went wide. Mikey, who was on the other side of Pete, had to clamp his hand over Pete's mouth to keep him from laughing.

"Mr. Way!" The headmaster shrieked. "What on Earth was that? Just because you're new to Pencey Prep doesn't mean you can interrupt whenever you feel like it. Now again, what was that?"

"It was a--" Gerard started before being cut off by the horrid noise again. "--hiccup." He finished.

"Control them please!" The headmaster sighed as everyone burst out into a fit of laughter at Gerard. The boy turned the color of his hair and put his head down.

The rest of the speech droned on, until they were set free. There were a few more hiccups from Gerard, which he managed to somewhat mute so that only the people directly around him could hear the muffled, but still horrible, noises.

They were allowed to leave after that and could do whatever they pleased for the rest of the day and the weekend, as long as they got to their first class on Monday morning, no one cared what they did.

~ Monday ~

"Wake up sunshine!" Gerard called, shaking Ray. Gerard started laughing, "Wake up my little Ray of sunshine."

Ray groaned, before ripping the pillow from under his head and smacking Gerard with it. "This is a pun free zone," he mumbled into the mattress.

"Awaken from your slumber almighty Princess Fro Fro!" Gerard screeched.

"Ugh why are you bugging me it's only...SHIT IT'S 6 AM CLASS IS IN A HALF HOUR!" Ray screamed, leaping out of bed and running past the fully dressed and ready Gerard  he dashed into the bathroom and came out 20 minutes later. He was fully dressed in his school uniform and with a semi-tamed fro.

"Come one we only have ten minutes to get to music! Oh god I need food!" Ray yelled, trying to find his bag.

"Your bag's on your bed and I snagged you a muffin from breakfast earlier," Gerard said, throwing a wrapped chocolate chip muffin at Ray.

"Thanks man!" He said as they left the building. They were barely out the door when Pete leapt out of nowhere onto Gerard's back.

"THE FUCK WENTZ?!?" Gerard shrieked, as Pete fixed himself on Gerard's back so he was getting a piggyback ride.

"TO MUSIC!!" He yelled, pointing over Gerard's head towards one of the buildings

"That would be the science building Pete," Mikey sighed, leaving the building with Patrick behind him.

"Do you all have music too?" Ray asked.

"Yeah, I don't know about them," Mikey said. "Frank has it too I think."

"Bob does and so do I," Patrick said. Even though he and Mikey were younger than the rest of them, they all had music together as it was all grades. They also shared a few other classes with the others, as they both got amazing grades and were allowed to take advanced classes, which were just the courses for the year above them. Pete nodded, confirming he had it too.

The five of them walked, well Pete was carried, towards the music room which was on the other side of the campus. Half way there, Gerard screamed, "NOPE!" and dropped Pete onto the grass. The boy met hard ground and groaned, using Patrick to pull himself up.

"Meany," he said pouting at Gerard who just shrugged and smirked.

They arrived at the class barely on time. Their teacher, Mr. John, was perfectly alright with them being nearly late. The five sat down with Bob and Frank who were already there.

"So," Mr. John said, "this is music class, obviously. Anyway, Mr. John sounds really weird to me so just call me Elton. Everyone does, and the headmaster understands that I like to be called that so go ahead. Anyway the class expectations. You will be writing a song each semester as a project that will count as your midterm and final exam grades. You may choose to work with whoever you want, but no more than five people per group and they must be in this class." He went over the rest of the rules and how the practice rooms and borrowing of instruments would work. He notified them all that they could use their own instruments if they had them, they just needed to bring them to class.

"Now," Elton continued, "there's only about ten minutes left in class, so choose your groups and I will be around in five minutes to write down who is in what group."

"So," Gerard said turning to everyone, "How should we divide this up?"

"Well obviously Pete and Mikey won't be together because they both play bass," Frank said.

"And Gerard and Patrick both sing so they should be separated as well," Pete said.

"Patty sings?" Bob asked. Patrick just nodded sheepishly.

"So me and Gerard and Pete and Patrick are two groups so far," Mikey said.

"Uhh excuse me?" A new voice said. There were two boys standing there, one with longish hair and glasses, and the other with a fro to rival Ray's.

"Andy! Joe!" Patrick said, smiling. "Hey guys! Guys these are my other friends, Andy and Joe."

"Hey Pat," the one with the fro said. "Uh Andy and I need a group, do you guys wanna join?"

"Yeah sure! I'll join you guys," Patrick said and Pete nodded in confirmation.

"This works out," Bob said. "Andy and I play drums, and Ray plays guitar like Joe. So we have Pete, Patrick, Andy, and Joe in one group. Gerard, Mikey, Ray, and I are the other. Frank, choice is yours, pick a group."

"I'll stick with you guys, Bob," Frank said. They all nodded, and Elton came around to write down their groups.

The bell rang, causing them to jump. They all had science next hour, but with different teachers.

Patrick practically ran out of the room, fedora nearly flying off his head. Pete went after him, since they had the same class. "Hey Trick! Wait up!" He called, running to catch up with the other boy. "Is it okay I volunteered you to sing? I'm sorry I should've asked..."

"It's fine Pete, really," Patrick told him, smiling slightly.

"You're lying I can tell. I'm sorry! It just kind of slipped out."

Patrick laughed, "Really Pete, it's fine." The other boy sighed in relief. "Off to science now!" Patrick yelled, charging through the courtyard area to the science building. Pete laughed and followed him, his uniform tie smacking him in the face as he ran.

They arrived in their class with a few minutes to spare. The first thing the teacher, who Patrick had had last year, said in the class was, "Mr. Stump no hats inside please remove it."

The strawberry blonde haired boy sighed, pulled the fedora off, and ruffled up his hair before making it neater. Pete had only very briefly seen Patrick without his fedora on, and Pete found he looked even cuter without it on. Both boys blushed and looked down at the table, Patrick's blush more noticeable than Pete's.

Science was boring, except when she assigned them first semester lab partners. Pete was paired with this kid Brendon Urie, who had a brown fringe style hair cut. After talking to Brendon for five minutes, he discovered that the kid was pretty odd, but really funny.

They managed to survive through the day, but Frank was pretty sure he would make his science teachers life a living hell. He was a complete dick to all of them, really strict, and super old. Gerard had to physically restrain him from punching the guy.

"Hey Gerard," Frank said after school hours were over and they'd changed out of their uniforms and were hanging out outside. "I've never heard you actually sing, but Pete said you were good. Since you're going to be our singer in the performance, could I uh, hear you sing a little?"

Gerard smiled shyly, keeping his mouth closed. "Sure, um...pick a song I guess."

"Adam's Song by Blink-182, if you know it. Ooh wait, can I get my guitar and play along to see how we sound?" Frank asked.

"Sure, do you want to go back to your dorm?" Gerard asked.

"It'll probably piss my roommate off, so yes," Frank said, nodding frantically.

"I'm assuming you don't like him?"

"Yeah. It's not even the OCD even though that's frustrating, I just hate him in general even though basically everybody likes him.

He's the mascot too."

Frank opened the door to his room, and thankfully, Brian wasn't in there. Frank grabbed his guitar and plugged it in. Gerard got the song up on his phone and had it play softly in the background as Frank started playing.

Gerard was so transfixed by the other boy that he almost missed his cue to start singing, but managed to come in without missing a beat. Frank's head snapped up to look at Gerard with a look of pure shock on his face. The redhead grinned at the shorter boy and kept singing, shutting his eyes and getting lost in the words.

They finished playing just as Brian entered the room. He looked like he was about to scream at Frank for having his uniform scattered around the floor, but then he noticed Gerard, forced a smile, and left again.

"Nice to meet you too!" Gerard sassed at the door causing Frank to laugh.

"You'll meet him, maybe. You don't want to, believe me," Frank told him looking disgusted. "Can I please come hang out with you and Ray and save my sanity?"

"We're all going to the self titled 'Casa de Peterick' so just come with us I guess," Gerard said shrugging.

Frank laughed, "I'm assuming Pete came up with that?"

"Nope, it was Patrick," Gerard said chuckling, which caused Frank to laugh harder. "But feel free to come by my dorm if you need a break from all this."

"Thanks Gee."

"Gee?"

  
"Yup!" Frank exclaimed. "It's your new nickname. Gerard blushed and laughed before following Frank to Casa de Peterick.


	4. Panic! At the Mall (Oh, and In The Science Class)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates cuz why not

It had been a month since the first day of school and it was now the beginning of October. Pete was in science class on Friday, getting ready to do some lab involving balloons with Brendon. Every class has those people who messed around all the time, and that was Pete and Brendon. Patrick would occasionally get dragged into trouble by simply being associated with the two.

"Now, you are to charge the balloons with static electricity by rubbing them on your hair," the teacher said, causing many girls and Brendon to start complaining. She just rolled her eyes as she finished out the worksheets. "Stop whining and get to work!"

Pete scanned his eyes over the page, and the task seemed quite simple. They had to charge the balloon with static electricity and put it next to running water to see what happened. They were also learning about the effects of heat, so they were told to hold the balloon above the flame of the Bunsen Burner and wait until it popped. Because apparently that was science.

"Hey Brendon," Pete yelled, before grabbing the balloon and rubbing it in Brendon's hair, causing the boy's fringe to stand nearly straight up.

"PETER LEWIS KINGSTON WENTZ THE THIRD I WILL CHOP YOUR DICK OFF AND PUT IT IN A GARBAGE DISPOSAL YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Brendon shrieked like a banshee, his voice rising at least three octaves. Pete doubled over laughing, but the teacher was not amused.

"Mr. Urie! That is no way to speak to another student! Stay back after class!" She said.

Pete was still laughing and turned around to see Patrick, who was at the lab bench behind him, biting his lip to keep from laughing. Pete tapped his own lip, which was their little code that Patrick was biting his lip and needed to stop if he wanted to break his bad habit. Patrick stopped and smiled gratefully at Pete.

Pete turned around and watch Brendon attempt to light the Bunsen Burner, and failing horribly. Also, since he decided to lean his head over the open flame while trying to make it work properly, the fire that eventually came out singed off the bottom inch of his fringe.

"NO!" He screamed, running over to the emergency shower and dousing himself in the water to put out the tiny flame that was still lit in his hair. Everyone laughed because honestly, he didn't need to do that for such a small amount of fire. What was left of his fringe was stuck to his forehead and his eyeliner was streaming down his face. The teacher sighed again, and told Brendon to go to the nurse to make sure he was alright, and to get a pass from her to change out of his sopping wet uniform. He didn't return for the ten minutes that remained in class. Lucky for him, he had finished his work sheet.

Behind him, Pete saw that Patrick was currently jumping up to try and take his fedora away from his lab partner, a six-foot tall douchebag who was holding it over his head, and threatening to light it on fire.

Idiots, Pete thought rolling his eyes. Patrick sighed, climbed onto a stool, and jumped on the guy's back piggy-back style. He reached around the guy, who was trying to shake him off (and failing), before grabbing his fedora and hopping down. While the guys was writhing around to try and get the shorter boy off of him, he knocked over their Bunsen Burner, causing various papers to light on fire.

"MR. STUMP! MR. JONES! HEADMASTERS OFFICE NOW!" The teacher yelled, extinguishing the flames. "If anyone else does anything, they will be joining them!"

Pete knew Patrick would be screwed trying to talk to the headmaster himself, so the taller boy just shrugged to himself before walking over to the Jones and pulled down the other boy's pants.

"MR. WENTZ!" The teacher shrieked hysterically. "HEADMASTER'S OFFICE  NOW! And for the love of all things holy, Mr. Jones pull up your trousers!"

They walked out the door, Jones embarrassed, Pete smiling and sarcastically waving to the teacher, and Patrick biting his lip in his nervousness. Pete reached over and tapped the boys lip, smiling at him softly. The three of them made their way to the headmasters, where they saw Gerard and Frank on the bench inside the main office, right outside the headmaster's door. One of the benches where people in serious trouble sat. Clearly they thought it was worth it as they were both trying not to giggle uncontrollably.

"Hey guys," Frank said cheerily and waving at them.

"What did you idiots do?" Pete sighed. Him and Patrick sat next to their friends, while Jones went to the bench across the room.

"Well I fell asleep in class," Gerard said. "And Frank decided to put the crayons he magically acquired in my hair."

"And then this idiot wakes up and sneezes, like really forcefully," Frank said.

"And all the crayons went flying out of my hair and scattered across the room," Gerard finished, both of them giggling.

"Our English teacher wasn't that mad..." Frank continued.

"Until this bigger idiot decided to say 'The rainbow has chosen you Mr. Brown, we all know you're gay' and then he got so pissed," Gerard finished, giggling harder.

Patrick burst out laughing, and it seemed they noticed him for the first time.

"Patrick 'The Almighty Angel' Stump is in trouble!?!?" Frank screamed, earning a loud shush from the secretary.

"Well Jones," he said, pointing to the other boy, "decided to try and burn my fedora..." He retold the story from science, Pete adding in some parts and telling them about what happened to Brendon when they were done with Patrick's story.

"Mr. Iero and Mr. Way, oh there's more of you why's that?" The headmaster asked, coming out from behind his closed office door.

"MITOSIS!" Frank screamed before he could think better of it. Gerard slapped his hand over the boy's mouth glaring at him. He sent an innocent smile to the headmaster, who looked so thoroughly done with him.

"Mr. Iero," he sighed, "Please control your outbursts. "Anyway, why are you three here?" They retold the story to him, and he gestured for them all to go into his office.

The five of them followed him into the small room.

"Mr. Iero and Mr. Way, a week's detention seems like a fit punishment as this is, surprisingly, the first major offence from either of you," he told them after they all say down. "Mr. Jones, this isn't your first offence. So stealing another's property and threatening to ruin it gets you three weeks detention. Mr. Wentz and Mr. Stump, you attacked another student, but you had what you thought was a good reason, and neither of you has done anything serious before. Mr. Stump you've never done anything, ever, but Mr. Wentz you have disturbed classes before. But I'm going to go light on you and give you a week of detention each. Now, go on and get to your last class." He made a shooing motion and the five left his office. The one great thing  about the grouchy headmaster is he gives fair punishment to everyone.

"Hey Pat, ready for study hall?" Gerard asked. Patrick nodded and both redheads walked off towards their building.

"Ready for math?" Frank asked smirking.

"That's not a possibility and you know it," Pete replied, rolling his eyes.

Frank laughed, "Yeah that's true. I think I meant, 'You ready to go mess with that stupid teacher?'"

"Always."

They got to class and sat in their usual seats in the back corner. The teacher approached them and told them, "I want you two separated, you cause too many problems. Peter, move to the other side of the room please."

The separation didn't stop them, because Frank kept sending Pete ridiculously ugly and funny snapchats of himself and other people in the room with stupid captions. Both of them were quietly and uncontrollably laughing.

"Hey emos!" Some jock yelled when the teacher left the room, "What are you doing?"

"Your mom!" Frank snapped back.

"And your sister!" Pete said.

"Haven't got one Wentz!" The boy yelled back, smirking, because he thought he won.

"Ask your mom about that later, because you'll have one soon!" Frank quipped back.

The jock became furious, but the teacher returned causing him to turn around to face the board again.

They left the room about thirty minutes later as the bell rang signaling the end of the day.

"Hey Frank," Pete said out of no where, "Are you asking anyone to the Halloween Ball?" The Ball wasn't even really a 'Ball'. It was mainly just a dance where everyone was supposed dress up in costumes and there would be a contest for the best one. It was honestly just an excuse for the students to be able to break dress code, as they let them wear regular clothes during the day when there was a dance.

"Um...probably not. Gerard, Mikey, Patrick, Ray, Bob and I are all going stag. What about you?"

"Well...I uh...well um..." Pete stuttered blushing.

"THERE IS SOMEONE!" Frank yelled. "Who is it?"

"I well uh...I like Trick okay?" Pete sighed in defeat.

Frank...squealed. He freaking squealed, jumping around like a little schoolgirl.

"YES YES YES!!! MY OTP!!!" He shrieked.

"OTP? Is that something to do with shipping?" Pete asked, wondering what his friend was on about.

"One True Pairing. Basically I ship you guys really hard. Shipping is me wanting you two to be in a relationship. Gerard ships it, Bob totally ships it, and I think Patrick ships it too."

"Wha-What?!?" Pete spluttered.

"Patrick. Stump. Likes. You. You. Big. Stupid. Idiot."

Now it was Pete's turn to squeal. "REALLY?!?"

"Yup! Okay you're gonna ask him and it's gonna be the sweetest thing ever. I'll help you plan it! Okay so...flowers? Does he like flowers?"

Pete shrugged, "Probably. A girl might be useful for this." He ran over to Ashlee, his friend from his history class. "Hey Ashlee, if I was to ask you to the Halloween Ball, how would you want me to do it?"

She looked really confused, but answered anyway. "Well flowers, everyone loves flowers. Uhh probably a public asking because that shows you want everyone to know you asked. Um...I don't know, why?"

"Because I want to ask this guy I really, _really_ like to the Halloween Ball and--"

"Say no more!" She said. "We'll help you plan, right Lindsey?" She asked turning to her friend who nodded vigorously.

"Oh uh, okay then. Frank!" He yelled over to his friend, waving him over to them.

The short boy jogged over to them, and Pete explained to him what had happened.

"Oh yes!" Frank yelled, "C'mon lets go back to Gerard and Ray's room, we can plan this all out!" He texted their curly haired friend who told them to head up. They didn't want to head to Frank's because Brian. And Patrick would be in Pete's so that didn't work, and besides, Gerard would want in on this.

"So Pete," Lindsey asked, "Who's the boy?"

Pete flushed red, "It's Patrick Stump," he muttered looking down.

The girls awwed causing them all to laugh. They arrived at Ray and Gerard's dorm, entering when Gerard opened the door. Pete introduced the girls and they got to planning.

Patrick was alone in his dorm, confused as to why Pete wasn't back yet. The brunette always would come back right after class to change out of his uniform.

Patrick's phone dinged, signaling a text message.

**FROM: Peteypie**

_Hey tricky random question. What's ur fav color?_

**TO: Peteypie**

_Orange. Why?_

**FROM: Peteypie**

_...no reason_

**TO: Peteypie**

_Ok then_

Patrick just shrugged to himself and threw his phone down next to him on his bed, deciding to start his Algebra homework.

Pete was sitting on Gerard's bed with Ashlee and Frank, while Gerard himself, Ray, and Lindsey were on Ray's bed, facing them.

"He said his favorite color was orange," Pete told them, reading off his phone.

Lindsey grabbed hers and was looking at something, when Pete's went off again.

**FROM: Pattycakes :D**

_Ok then_

**TO: Pattycakes :D**

_All will be clear soon young grasshopper_

**FROM: Pattycakes :D**

_Ur a dork_

Pete laughed, and set his phone down after that.

"Okay so we need to buy orange flowers, Pete some nice clothes, a horse--" Frank listed.

"No Frank, we're not doing the horse plan," Gerard sighed.

"Aw," Frank pouted. "Fine."

"Okay so since tomorrow's Saturday and we're allowed to go into town on weekends, we're all going shopping! Also, we should buy the costumes for the dance," Ashlee said.

"Yeah, we should invite Mikey and Bob. And Patrick too, I'd feel bad if he's left out," Ray said and they all nodded in agreement.

"Okay that sounds good. Ashlee and I can kidnap -- I mean, borrow Pete at some point and take him shopping," Frank said. They all agreed and told the other three of their plans. Obviously they all agreed. Everyone was in on _Operation Get Pete and Patrick Together For the Dance and Beyond_ , except for Patrick, obviously.

~ The Next Day ~

The nine of them met at the gates after lunch the next day. They had signed themselves out from the administration building and had to be back in their dorms by the 10 pm curfew.

"To the mall!" Pete yelled, jumping on Gerard's back and pointing in the direction of the mall, similarly to what he did on the first day of school. Gerard crossed his arms, expecting the other boy to fall since he wasn't supporting him in any way, but he didn't. Using his legs, Pete clung on like a baby koala.

"I am the King! I will never fall you stupid peasant!" Pete screamed, right in Gerard's ear.

"I'M DEAF! THIS IS THE END!" Gerard yelled. Pete laughed and got off his back.

They arrived at the mall, and Frank and Ashlee immediately dragged Pete into some clothing store he'd never heard of. They made some excuse to everyone that Pete didn't catch, but they got away with it, seeing as they only had to fool Patrick.

"Okay, take this, this, and this," Ashlee said, grabbing three things Pete couldn't see before they were thrown at him.

"How do you know my size?" Pete called from the dressing room after discovering that Ashlee had gotten the clothes in Pete's exact size.

"I just guessed!" She called back.

Pete emerged from the dressing room in the black skinny jeans, a long-sleeved black button down shirt, and red tie Ashlee had thrown at him.

"Perfect!" She and Frank said, squealing.

Pete laughed at them. "You guys do realize I own skinny jeans right?"

"Yeah but they're all ripped and dirty. Don't wear these until you ask him, or they will end up the same way!" Frank warned. Pete just laughed and got changed back into his clothes.

"Now, shoes," Ashlee said.

"I  have black Doc Martens, black high top Converse, and black combat boots already," Pete told her.

"Perfect, wear the Doc Martens," Ashlee told him. He nodded in reply, as Ashlee walked up to the register and bought the clothes.

"Dude come on they're mine let me buy them!" Pete said to her.

"Nope, you can pay me back by letting me be bridesmaid at your wedding," she said.

Frank snorted, "So who's the bride?"

"Patrick," Pete and Ashlee said at the same time. All three laughed before leaving the store and seeing their friends right outside.

Patrick heard his name, then laughing. _It's probably just a coincidence,_ he thought. Then he saw Ashlee, Pete, and Frank and...they were laughing at him. Oh god, they were making fun of him. The people he thought were his friends, were mocking him. He felt his anxiety going crazy, his friends never cared about him, they mocked him behind his back...

_You're not going to cry, you're not going to cry_ , he kept repeating to himself, but...nope he was crying.

_Little baby crying, that nasty voice in his head thought. You're weak you piece of shit._

__

_No I'm not, I'm not weak_ , he thought back.

Pete's smile vanished immediately, once he saw Patrick's tears. "Trick what's wrong?" He asked softly.

"N-Nothing," Patrick sobbed. They all looked at him, concern and worry on all their faces. He couldn't handle it, the people laughing at him, the staring, the depressing thoughts, the crying, the public environment, all mixed with his social anxiety was too much to handle. He ran in the direction of the nearest bathroom.

"Patrick wait!" Pete yelled, running after his roommate.

He was very close to catching up with the younger boy, but couldn't quite get him by the time they reached the bathroom. Patrick made it into a stall and locked himself in before Pete could get to him. They were alone in the bathroom, so Pete locked the main door, rules be damned.

"Trick, please open the door," Pete whispered, leaning his hand and forehead against the dirty stall door.

Patrick had closed the toilet and was sitting on it sobbing. He didn't answer.

"Dammit Patrick!" Pete yelled, slamming his hand on the door. "You know what, you have two options. Open the door, or I crawl under, no matter how disgusting this bathroom floor is. Haven't these people ever heard of cleaning a goddamned restroom?"

Patrick couldn't help but laugh as he wiped away his tears.

"Are you smiling yet?" Pete asked.

"No," he whispered back.

"Well I'm coming in and I want to see a smile on your pretty face by then okay?"

"Sure."

Pete didn't lie, he actually crawled under the stall door. His brown flop of hair appeared under the door and we wiggled so he was about half in and half out. Patrick laughed, and got up, unlocking the stall.

"You could've done that before I was on the dirty floor!" Pete grumbled, causing Patrick to laugh. "There's that smile!"

Patrick blushed, and helped Pete up. The taller boy immediately pulled the other into a hug, to which Patrick replied to automatically.

"What's wrong?" Pete whispered into the strawberry blonde hair. The shorter boy shook his head against the taller boy's chest. "Please tell me."

Patrick sighed, "Why were you, Frank, and Ashlee laughing about me?"

Pete tensed up. Patrick did the same right after. Pete relaxed and pulled back to look right into Patrick's blueish-green eyes. "I can't tell you yet, but I promise, it'll be clear soon. I'll be able to tell you Monday, okay? But I swear, we were **_not_ ** making fun of you. We're your friends, we would never, okay?" Patrick nodded in reply. Pete leaned down slightly and planted a kiss on Patrick's forehead. "Don't listen to what the voice in here says okay?" He tapped the spot his lips had just been. "It's wrong, we all care. A lot."

Patrick nodded and smiled slightly. "Okay, I-I'm sorry, it's so hard to ignore sometimes."

"I know. You ready to go find those idiots we call friends and have some fun?" Pete said smirking. Patrick nodded, then blushed when Pete kissed his cheek. "Let's a-go!" He shouted in a terrible Mario impression, causing Patrick to laugh as he followed Pete out into the mall.

"Please don't tell them..." Patrick said, as they ran back.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

They returned to their friends and just said Patrick thought he saw his grandfather, but then realized he hadn't because his grandfather had passed three years ago. The last part wasn't exactly a lie. They all gave him apologies, but he just waved them off. "Let's go buy costumes!" He said excitedly.

They went into the costume store, and looked around for about an hour. "PERFECT!" Frank yelled, snatching a Frankenstein costume and smirking.

Ray groaned, "Another pun costume?! Really?"

"Another?" Gerard asked.

"Last year he went as a hot dog. Get it? A FRANKfurter," Ray said. They all groaned and Frank laughed.

"Hey, I'm punny!" He whined. "And now I'm Frankenstein. Get it, FRANKenstein?" He laughed.

"We all get it but it's not funny," Mikey said.

"YES IT IS, I'M A GENIUS!" Frank yelled, causing a mother with two small children to glare at them. The children giggled when Frank waved at them with a huge dorky grin on his face . The woman huffed, and ushered the children away.

"Okay, go as Frankenstein but please, don't wear that horrid mask," Gerard said.

"Well I need some form of Frankenstein face covering!" Frank huffed.

"I'll do your makeup if you want," Gerard offered, shrugging. "I'm doing my own skeleton makeup so..."

"Yes that'd be great," Frank said, beaming.

The two of them got to the register, as Gerard had already picked out a one piece full body skeleton suit that wouldn't cover his face.

"Hey there!" The guy at the register said. He looked to be about their age and was pretty dang good looking. Blonde hair, green eyes, and just wow. He rang up Frank's stuff, and the brunette boy then silently walked over to look at the fake blood on the racks.

"So, you're pretty cute," the guy said to Gerard, who turned the color of his hair.

"I-I um..." Gerard stammered.

The boy giggled, "That's adorable."

Gerard shot Frank a 'Please help' look, so the shorter boy walked over to him.

"Hey babe, you almost ready?" Frank asked, looping his arm through Gerard's and interlocking their fingers. He gave  Gerard a subtle 'This Is Your Escape' look.

"I'll be done in a second, relax," Gerard said chuckling.

"Okay, I'm gonna go find the others," Frank said. He stood on his toes to plant a kiss to Gerard's cheek, which then turned the same shade as his hair again.

Frank walked away, cackling at his power to make the other boy blush. He found the others, and heard Pete yell, "IF FRANK CAN BE A PUN WHY CAN'T I?"

Patrick sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "Pete, you're not going to be Peter Pan just because you have the same name as him."

"Why not? I'd rock that look!" Pete whined.

"No...just please don't," Mikey said.

"TOO BAD MY MIND IS MADE UP I AM A PUN!" Pete yelled, running to the checkout with his Peter Pan costume and wig.

"Hey maybe I could dress up like the sun and really be Gerard's 'Ray of Sunshine'," Ray said laughing.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" Bob screamed, causing that mother to glare at them again. Ray just cackled and promised he wouldn't.

Pete and Gerard returned to wait for the rest of them to choose their costumes. The shop worker was doing something near them, so Gerard put his hand in Frank's the same way as they had had them earlier. The others were scanning the costumes when Mikey and Lindsey burst out laughing.

"Hey Patrick!" Lindsey called. He turned around to look at her. "We found your costume!" She held up a Tinkerbell costume dress made for five year olds.

"THAT'S SO MEAN!" Patrick yelled.

"You should get the adult version of it and match Pete!" Frank laughed.

"I'll do that if...Mikey...gets..." He said scanning the choices. "This!" He proclaimed, holding up a 'sexy' nurse's costume.

"I think the other Way would suit that better," Frank said smirking. Gerard blushed and spluttered trying to think of a reply, before burying his face in Frank's shoulder.

"Yeah no chance," Mikey said, "I'm not doing that."

"And I won't be Tinkerbell," Patrick said.

"Gerard, Frank," Ray said, "Why are you holding hands?"

The shop worker looked over curiously. Frank sent Ray and everyone else a 'We'll Explain Later' look and said, "We've been dating for two months Ray! You know that!"

Thankfully, they all played along. Pete gasped all of a sudden, and ran off, dragging Mikey with him. They reappeared seconds later, Pete holding a set of fluffy white angel's wings and a halo headband. "TRICK YOU SHOULD BE AN ANGEL! YOU'RE SO INNOCENT IT'S PERFECT!" Pete shrieked. "Besides, you have a white t-shirt, white jeans, and white converse. You just need to buy these and a white leather jacket!"

Patrick sighed, "Yeah alright why not?"

"Yay!" Pete yelled. "And you could twin with Mikey! He could be an angel of darkness!" Mikey pulled out a set of black wings and a thorn halo headband.

Ray ended up deciding to be a zombie and Bob chose to have Gerard make it look like he got beat up and mugged.

Lindsey was going as a pregnant nun because of the irony, and Ashlee was going to be a cat. But it wasn't just going to be lingerie and animal ears, but a full on cat costume, black body suit, ears, a tail, claw gloves, and whiskers.

They went to another store and bought matching leather jackets for Patrick and Mikey, but white and black for the costume themes. Frank and Gerard told them about how the shop worker was flirting with Gerard who wasn't interested, and Frank pretended to be his boyfriend so the guy would stop.

They returned to school a few hours later, just in time for dinner. Ashlee and Lindsey went out to buy the flowers, which they were going to keep in their dorm until Monday. Pete couldn't wait for Monday.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my dad won a costume contest as a pregnant nun so that's why that's a thing.  
> I make too many puns.


	5. Dates, Cuddles, and the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've given up on trying to make it formatted correctly. It may be. If not, sorry.
> 
> Cecil and Carlos are from Welcome to Night Vale and are briefly mentioned because I ran out of gays.   
> (I have more bandom ones but plans for them already)

Monday came, and all of Pete's excitement drained out as soon as the final bell rang. He was leaving science with Patrick and Brendon, who got rid of his singed fringe and now styled it into a quiff, when Patrick told him that he had a history project to work on with some girl named Elisa. 

Pete went back to their dorm to change into the outfit Ashlee and Frank helped him buy. After lacing up his Doc Martens and tying his tie, he headed to Ashlee and Lindsey's dorm to get the flowers. They both hugged him and wished him luck. He texted Patrick to find out where he was. 

TO: Pattycakes 

Hey where r u? 

He sat on Lindsey's bed while he waited for a reply. 

FROM: Pattycakes

Outside studying with Elisa under the cork tree 

Pete took a deep breath and left the dorm. He knew exactly where that was and people usually hung out around there. So there'd be a pretty big crowd. He took another deep breath. And five more. People saw him walking through the grounds dressed nice out of uniform, and with flowers, so it wasn't hard for them to realize what he was doing, and quite a few people wished him luck. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, as it was mildly warm out still, and he was getting really warm because he was so nervous. 

He saw Patrick's fedora before he saw the boy himself. He approached them, and out of the corner of his eye, saw all of his friends, Ashlee and Lindsey and even Brendon too, standing about 20 feet away. He hid the bouquet behind his back as he made his way forwards. 

"Hey Patrick, hello Elisa," he said to the pair of them. 

"Hey Pete," Patrick said back, and Elisa waved. "What's up?" He asked. 

Pete took another deep breath, trying not to notice the 50 or so students watching. 

He's gonna say no, a voice inside his head taunted. 

"Patrick, will you go to the Halloween Ball with me?" He asked squeezing his eyes shut and pulling the flowers from behind his back. He felt the presence of someone right in front of him and a small tug on flowers, so he opened his eyes and saw the shorter boy standing right in front of him. 

"Yes," Patrick whispered, beaming. He took the flowers from Pete and placed them on the blanket he and Elisa were sitting on. He stood back up, placed a hand on Pete's cheek and...

OH MY GOD HE'S KISSING ME!!!!  Is all Pete could think. He smiled into the kiss, wrapped his arms around Patrick's waist and kissed back. They pulled away and everyone was clapping, except like three people. Their friends were going ballistic. Frank had jumped onto Gerard and was basically sitting on his shoulder, Lindsey, Ashlee, and Brendon, were jumping up and down screaming. Bob sighed, pulled out his wallet, and dropped a 20 dollar bill onto Frank's head. He had lost their bet, obviously. Even Elisa was clapping excitedly. Patrick blushed and looked down biting his lip. 

"Um that was successful I guess," Pete said laughing. He scratched the back of his head, and stepped back slightly. 

Patrick laughed, "Yeah I guess. This may have been a just one time to the dance thing but I...I really like you Pete. So I have a question for you, will you be my boyfriend?" He bit his lip again. 

"What kind of question is that? Of course!" Pete leaned down again to kiss Patrick, which successfully got him to stop biting his lip. 

Brendon came sprinting over to them, bear hugging them both, "ORANGE WILL BE YOUR WEDDING COLOR!" He screamed. 

"HELL NO I'M NOT WEARING AN ORANGE DRESS!" Ashlee screamed. "And I get a say because Pete promised me bridesmaid-ship!" 

"Oh that reminds me!" Pete yelled, "I have something to tell you later Patrick."

Patrick understood what he meant and nodded. Elisa stood up, "Well, I'm glad we finished before Pete got here," she teased. "So now you can go hang out with your boyfriend, and not feel like you're ditching our project." They all laughed and she picked up her blanket. Elisa waved goodbye before heading off with Ashlee and Lindsey. 

"Okay but seriously," Brendon said, "I'm planning your wedding."

They both laughed, and Patrick reached for Pete's hand shyly. Pete locked their fingers and squeezed Patrick's hand, sending the adorable boy a huge grin. 

"Okay, I need your help with math," Pete said, smiling at Patrick innocently. The shorter boy rolled his eyes at his boyfriend. 

"Okay fine let's go back to our dorm," Patrick said, attempting to grab his books, backpack, and not crush his flowers at the same time. Pete scooped up his books and carried them under one arm. They linked fingers again, once Patrick picked up the rest of his stuff. 

"Have fun with your 'math'," Frank said, snickering. Bob joined him and they each earned a jab to the ribs from one of the Way brothers. 

"Wear a condom!" Ray yelled. 

"You told me that already!" Pete yelled back. "What are you, the condom fairy?" 

They all laughed at that and Ray proclaimed, "Yes, 'tis I, Princess Fro Fro, the condom fairy!" 

They laughed and Pete and Patrick returned to their dorm. People saw their joined hands and some congratulated them, and others said nothing. They were on their floor and some boy muttered "fags," as they walked past, and Pete could see it affect Patrick immediately. He unlocked their door, dragged the other boy inside, and engulfed him in a hug as soon as the door was closed behind them and they'd set Patrick's stuff on his bed. 

Patrick was shaking in his arms, with his head buried in his chest. "Shh Trick, it's okay," Pete said, stroking the other boy's hair. 

"I should've expected it," Patrick whispered. "But I-I don't care, what they think, I'm happy being with you." He tilted his chin up to kiss Pete. He sighed into their kiss, before Pete pulled away. 

"I actually kind of do need help with math," he said sheepishly. Patrick rolled his eyes and walked away from Pete to go grab his math stuff. 

About an hour passed before Pete threw himself backwards so he landed lying sideways across Patrick's bed. "No. More. Math. Ever," he groaned, letting his head flop over the edge of the bed. He turned so his head was hanging over the other side of the bed, and leaned his head back against the side of the mattress. "Hello!" He said to Patrick who was sitting on the floor, Pete's upside down head about equal to his shoulder. 

"When the blood rushes to your head and you die, Brendon will kill you because you'll be dead and he won't get to plan our wedding," Patrick deadpanned. 

"So he'll mutilate my corpse?" Pete asked. 

Patrick laughed, "He probably practice necrophilia with your corpse."

"EW!" Pete yelled, sitting up. "I didn't need that mental image!"

"Neither did I," Patrick said, moving to sit on his bed with Pete because floor were uncomfortable. Pete leaned over and kissed him, and he hadn't lied. 

He was happy. 

"So what were you going to tell me?" Patrick asked when he pulled away. 

"Oh! Right," Pete said, "The reason we were laughing at the mall. So Ashlee had picked out the clothes I'm wearing for me to ask you to the dance in, and she paid for them. I told her not to, but she said when you and I got married, I could pay her back by letting her be bridesmaid. Then Frank asked who the bride would be. Ashlee and I said your name at the same time and we all laughed."

"I would not be the bride!" Patrick huffed indignantly. "You're the feminine one!"

"And how's that?" Pete questioned. 

"The eyeliner." 

~ A Few Minutes Earlier ~ 

Gerard was desperately attempting to get the stupid drawing right but  it wasn't working.  He gripped his hair in frustration. He pulled out his phone, and tossed his sketchbook aside. The redhead flopped forward, so he was lying on his stomach instead. He opened the messages app and selected Frank's contact. 

TO: frnk

Help I'm booooooooooooorrrreeeed :( 

FROM: frnk

Sux 2 b u dont it

Gerard rolled his eyes at the text. 

TO: frnk

You need a dictionary. That's going to be your birthday gift. 

FROM: frnk

Rude & srry ur mr grammar police ngl u need 2 chill 

TO: frnk

USE WORDS DAMMIT! 

FROM: frnk

Nah 

Gerard got a terrible idea, so naturally he carried it out. He got up and walked over to Frank's dorm and knocked on the door. Frank opened it, phone in hand. Gerard smiled and waved, before grabbing Frank's phone and running back to his own dorm. He shut and locked the door behind him. 

"Gerard!" Frank yelled pounding on the door. "Give it back!" 

"Not until you learn to spell, dear Frank!" Gerard sassed back. 

"I will spell properly when I text you, I swear," Frank said. 

Gerard opened the door and dragged Frank inside. 

"Frank I'm still bored," he whined. 

"Come back to mine, Brian's at his parents this week because of some family emergency or something," Frank suggested.

"It's getting kind of late..." Gerard said. It was nearly the 9 pm noise curfew. 

"He's not here, you could just stay, no one would notice," Frank said. 

"Ray would," Gerard told him, "besides, you want me to sleep in your roommates bed without his permission?"

"Nah, sleep in mine, I'll take his," Frank said. Gerard just nodded and grabbed some pajamas, leaving a note for Ray telling him where he would be going. His phone buzzed and he saw he had a text from his brother. 

FROM: Unicorn Boy

Just wanted to warn you, there's going to be a storm later...

Mikey had learned his lesson of proper grammar when texting Grammar Police Gerard. 

TO: Unicorn Boy

I know. I'll be in franks room I should be fine 

FROM: Unicorn Boy

K

Gerard was terrified of storms. Always has been, probably always will be. He had no clue why, he just was. Mikey was the only one who knew, and never made fun of him for his irrational fears. Storms, needles, and the few others. 

He and Frank made their way to the latter's dorm. The shrill sound of the noise curfew bell rang out as they shut the door.

"Wanna watch a movie?" Frank asked, gesturing to his laptop. Gerard nodded and Frank put on the Nightmare Before Christmas. They sat side by side on Frank's bed, sharing a set of earbuds. 

About halfway through, Gerard turned to see Frank mouthing along to the words to the songs. Gerard smiled and turned back to the movie. 

"Kidnap the Sant-y Claus, see what makes him tick," Gerard heard Frank mutter. The redhead giggled at the other boy, who blushed and looked down. 

"Oh shut up," Frank whispered chuckling. 

The movie had just ended and the credits started to roll when a huge boom of thunder rang out. Gerard jumped nearly off the bed. 

"You okay?" Frank asked. 

"F-Fine," Gerard said shaking. 

"No you're not, what's up?" Just as Frank finished speaking, another rumble was heard. Gerard jumped again. "Gerard,"

Frank asked quietly, "Are you afraid of storms?"

Gerard nodded frantically. "It's stupid, I know."

"No it's not, it's your fear, fears aren't stupid."

"Mine is."

"No, it's not. What can make it better?"

"Well at home, Mikey would always come into my room, as he's the only one who knew of my fear. He'd lay next to me until I fell asleep. Just his presence made it okay, because I trusted him."

"Oh. It's past curfew, so we can't get him, I'm sorry," Frank replied.

"It's okay, but um..."

"What is it?"

"Could you lay with me until I fall asleep? I really trust you similarly to how I trust Mikey. Please?" Gerard whimpered as another rumble came. 

"Of course, Gee," Frank said smiling softly. They both changed into pajamas, sweatpants and baggy t-shirts, and climbed back into Frank's bed. 

The loudest rumble of thunder yet came, and Gerard was shaking. Frank pulled the trembling boy closer to him, and Gerard cuddled right into his chest. Frank wrapped his arms around the boy, barely any space between them. Gerard nestled his head underneath Frank's chin. 

"Thank you Frankie," Gerard whispered. 

Frank smiled softly into the bright red hair, "Of course," he whispered. 

The pair soon fell asleep, feeling safe in each other's arms. 

~~**~~

Gerard was in study hall with Patrick and Mikey the next day. It was last period, and they didn't have anything to do so they were talking quietly at the table in the back corner of the room. 

"How'd last night go?" Mikey asked. 

"What was last night?" Patrick asked, furrowing his brow. 

"The storm. I'm uh...scared of them," Gerard told him sheepishly. 

Patrick just shrugged, "I'm terrified of the dark. I'm not going to make fun of you for your fear."

"Thanks Pat," Gerard said, smiling. "But anyway, I uh...slept with Frank."

"WHAT?!?" Mikey yelled. 

"OH GOD NO, NOT LIKE THAT!" Gerard screamed, blushing. "No we just um...cuddled. It was...nice." He looked down, smiling slightly. 

"Aw! Will there be some Frerard in our future?" Patrick asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

"Frerard?" Mikey asked. He and Gerard both had the same look of confusion on their faces. 

"Frank taught Pete everything he didn't already know about shipping and he told me about it," Patrick sighed. The Ways still looked confused so he explained shipping, OTPs, and ship names to them. "...so my ship name with Pete is Peterick. Because it's the combined form of Pete and Patrick. We came up with Frerard with Bob and Lindsey. 'F-R' from Frank and 'E-R-A-R-D' from Gerard."

"Makes sense," Mikey said. 

"Yup," Patrick agreed. 

"So what about Rikey?" Gerard asked. "Is that a proper ship name?"

"Who's it for?" Patrick questioned. 

"Ray and Mikey," Gerard told him smirking. 

"I'm not -- we're not -- Ray and I are  not  dating!" Mikey spluttered, breaking his ever present poker face. 

"You should be," Gerard grumbled. 

" No ," Mikey insisted. 

"Mmhmm whatever you say little bro."

"Sometimes people like to write stories and draw their OTPs," Patrick said, completely changing the subject. "Mainly about fictional characters. But you never know, there might be some Frerard fan fictions out there!" Patrick said, laughing at how horrified Gerard looked. 

"Maybe there's Peterick ones too," Gerard speculated. 

"I hope not," Patrick said, shuddering at the possibility. 

The bell rang and they jumped up, packing their things and rushing out of the classroom. 

"Ugh, it's only Tuesday," Mikey whined. 

"Gross. But isn't there an important soccer game tonight?" Gerard asked. 

"Yeah, Pete hasn't stopped talking about how nervous he is," Patrick said. At the beginning of the year, Pete had tried out for the soccer team and made it as a starting forward. The coach had thought he was amazing, so he ended up making him co-captains with some guy named Ryan Ross, who Patrick hadn't met yet. 

"Oh yeah, if they win, they make playoffs. Which they haven't done in 20 years," Mikey said. 

"Right," Patrick said, "and Pete's been pacing like a mad man without even realizing. I had to throw a pillow at his head for him to snap out of it."

"Wow, well can you blame him?" Gerard said. "That's a lot of pressure." 

"Yup," Patrick said, pushing open the door to the building they were in. They walked out into the bright sunlight, and ran into Brendon, Pete, and some kid with brown hair and eyeliner like the other two. 

"Hey guys," Brendon said. 

"Hey," Gerard said. "Who's he?" He asked, pointing to the new boy.

"George Ryan Ross," the boy said, "but for the love of all things holy and unholy, if you want to stay alive, call me Ryan." He said jokingly, but with an undertone of seriousness. 

Patrick and Gerard laughed, while Mikey looked slightly concerned. 

"Or you can call him 'Mrs. Brendon Urie'," Pete said. 

"Shut up, 'Mrs. Patrick Stump'," Ryan snapped. 

"Aw Ryan and Brendon you're dating?" Gerard asked. Both boys blushed, looked down, and nodded. 

"RYDON!" Mikey screeched. Brendon, Ryan, and Pete looked confused, but Gerard and Patrick burst out laughing because of their earlier conversation. 

"I taught them about ship names," Patrick examined. Pete laughed, while the other two groaned. 

"Shut up Peterick," Brendon said. Patrick blushed and Pete kissed his cheek, making him blush more. He leaned in to do it again, but Patrick swatted his face away. 

"Ow! Tricky!" Pete pouted. 

"No, you're doing it to embarrass me," Patrick whined. Pete stuck his tongue out at the shorter boy, who did it right back. 

"Aw, so cute. I'm going to puke," Mikey deadpanned. They all laughed, but Gerard looked a little sad. Patrick pulled him aside. 

"This could be you and Frank, if you told him how you feel," Patrick whispered. 

"He's straight Pat," Gerard sighed. 

"No, he's bi. He told me. I asked him about him being heterosexual when he called Pete hot a while ago and he told me he was bi," Patrick said. "But you didn't hear it from me." He winked and they headed back to the others. 

"Okay, well Pete and I need to get to practice, see you guys later," Ryan said. 

"Bye Trick," Pete said, sneaking in a kiss to his cheek. "Bye Ways! Later Bden!" The two boys waved and headed off. 

"So Patrick, has Pete formally invited you to the game yet?" Brendon asked. 

"What?" Patrick asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. 

"It's kind of a tradition. The soccer players 'formally' invite their girlfriends or boyfriends to big games. They've never made it into the playoffs, but they usually make it this far. I'm surprised he hasn't yet, he's been gushing about you," Brendon said. 

"No he hasn't. Weird. But what, do you wear their practice jerseys or something like football players do?" Patrick asked laughing a little. Mikey and Gerard both chuckled at this. 

"Yes, and it's adorable!" Brendon answered seriously. 

"Oh," Patrick said, "Well, uh no he hasn't asked yet."

"He'll do it later, probably," Brendon said. 

"Maybe," Patrick agreed. 

"Yeah, hey can any of you help me with science? Pete's not the best lab partner." Brendon asked. 

"I can't sorry," Gerard said, "Frank and I are partners in our Aquatics class and need to go finish our fish tanks. See you guys later." He waved and walked off. 

"I'm free, Mikey are you?" Patrick asked. 

"Yup, let's go, wait, where are we going?" Mikey told them. 

"Mrs. Johnson's room," Brendon said. 

"Isn't she a total bitch?" Mikey asked. 

"Yup, and we have the pleasure of being in her class," Patrick said. They headed off to the classroom of the Wicked Witch of The West. 

~~**~~

Gerard walked into the science building and quickly located his Aquatics classroom. Frank was crouching down, staring at their tank, which was currently only filled with pebbles, plants, and water. 

"Hey Frank," Gerard said, "I've gotten our fish from the holding tank," he held up the plastic bag as the other boy turned around. 

Frank giggled. "Yay our children!" 

"Um...what?" Gerard asked. 

"These fish are our children, Gee!" Frank whispered like it was a very important secret. 

"Are you high?" Gerard joked. 

"I think I might be," Frank giggled. 

"Aw fuck," Gerard muttered. 

"WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE AROUND OUR CHILDREN!" Frank shrieked, grabbing the bag from Gerard. "It's okay, Daddy Gerard didn't mean it," he cooed to the fish. 

Gerard sighed, "What did you take?"

"Well Bob and I were at Lindsey and Ashlee's dorm and they told us they had brownies. I didn't hear the 'weed' part of that statement so I ate three," he told Gerard, still giggling. 

"And you left their room?" 

"We had our project!"

"If you get caught, you could be suspended! Just...stay right beside me and don't leave, let me it the fish in the tank and feed them," Gerard sighed. 

"'Kay!" Frank said, hopping onto the counter the tank was on. After the 30 minute or so process of properly putting the fish in, Gerard fed them and Frank hopped down. "Gee, I'm tired," Frank yawned. 

"Okay, come back to my dorm, Brian won't cover for you but Ray and I will," Gerard said. He grabbed Frank's wrist and led him outside and to his dorm. 

They got into the room and Gerard explained everything to Ray. Frank was basically asleep, leaning on the redheads shoulder. Nope, he was asleep. Gerard and Ray put him in Gerard's bed, where he immediately cuddled up to the pillow like a little kid. 

"Bob and I are trying to get the drum line and one of the guitar lines for our song done early, so I'm gonna go work on it with him. Try and finish the lyrics soon so we can see if they all work together, okay?" Ray told him. They had decided Gerard would write the lyrics that he would eventually end up singing. He nodded, and set to taking off Frank's tie and shoes as Ray left the room, taking his guitar with him. 

Gerard lay down on the other side of the double bed Frank was on, and closed his eyes. The exhaustion of the day caught up to him and he fell asleep. 

~~**~~

Patrick was sitting in his dorm, after trying to teach Brendon about chemistry which was  not fun and  definitely not  easy. 

He had changed into skinny jeans and a Blink-182 t-shirt and was on his bed, attempting to write lyrics for the song they needed for music, since Elton wanted at least a chorus written for class tomorrow. 

I've got troubled thoughts and the self-esteem to match... He wrote.  What a catch, what a catch.  And all I can think of is the way...  And then the ideas stopped. 

"Ugh!" He yelled, throwing his pencil across the room in frustration. "Darn, I needed that." He got up and retrieved the pencil before another idea came to him. 

I thought of angels, choking on their halos get them drunk on rose water. See how dirty I can get them pulling out their fragile teeth, and clip their tiny wings. 

Meh, nah,  he thought, flipping to a blank page in his notebook. 

Don't panic, no not yet, I know I'm the one you want to forget. You are allowed to leave my heart it's time for me to fall apart. Now you're on but I'll be okay your hot whiskey eyes have fanned the flame maybe I'll burn a little brighter tonight. Let the fire breathe me back to life. Baby you were my picket fence, I missing you now and then. Chlorine kissed, summer skin, I miss missing you now and then. 

****  
  


"Honey, I'm home!" Pete called sarcastically, walking into the dorm. 

Patrick laughed, "Okay sweetheart, dinner's ready in ten!" He called back with the same tone. 

Pete laughed and pecked his lips. "What'cha doing?" He asked, sitting next to Patrick and wrapping his arms around the smaller boy's waist. 

"Trying to write lyrics," Patrick sighed. 

"And how's it going?" Pete asked. 

"Bad. Here, read them," he said, handing Pete, who removed his arms from Patrick's waist, the lyrics. 

"Can I add something?" He asked. Patrick nodded and handed him the pencil. 

He took  I've got troubled thoughts and the self-esteem to match.. .  What a catch, what a catch.  And all I can think of is the way...  And added  I'm the one who charmed the one, who gave up on you, who gave up on you. 

"How's that?" Pete asked. 

"I like it," Patrick said. "And now I've got a chorus so yay, that's over."

"Are there any others?" 

"Uh...I started two others, go ahead and read them, they're on the next two pages. 

I thought of angels, choking on their halos get them drunk on rose water. See how dirty I can get them pulling out their fragile teeth, and clip their tiny wings.  Pete added a few more ideas.  Anything you say can and will be held against you, so only say my name, it will be held against you. Anything you say can and will be held against you, so only say my name.  Patrick grabbed a different pencil and started to add on.  If heaven's grief, bring hell's rain, then I'd  trade all my tomorrows, for just one yesterday, for just one yesterday, oh, I want to teach you a lesson in a bad kind of way. 

He changed his mind, crossing out the last line.  oh, I want to teach you a lesson in  ~~ a bad kind of way  ~~ the worst kind of way. Still I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday. For just one yesterday, for just one yesterday. 

"You're good at this," Patrick said. 

"I write my feeling out as songs sometimes," Pete said, scratching the back of his head. "Which isn't easy to do when you're bipolar, as my feelings change like every three seconds."

"Wait, you're bipolar?" Patrick said, turning to look at his boyfriend, wide-eyed. 

"Oh...um...yeah," Pete said. "I uh...never told you that did I...oops?" 

Patrick shrugged, "It's fine, don't worry. I kinda thought you might've been because you seem to have a lot of mood swings..." 

"Yeah...I guess."

"How bad does it get?" Patrick whispered, looking Pete directly in the eyes. 

"Bad. Um...I uh...used to...you know...harm myself. But don't worry, I'm clean. Mikey helped me stop." 

Patrick hugged him, which was a little hard to do as they were side by side. "If you ever feel really bad again, talk to me okay?" Pete nodded against Patrick's shoulder. 

"Anyway..." Pete said after a few minutes of them just sitting there. "Let's look at the other song."

He looked down at the paper, reading what Patrick had scribbled. 

"I like this one! It's really good! I mean they all are but...this one's my favorite," Pete told him. "I have an idea for the next part, if that's okay?" Patrick nodded so Pete continued the song. 

Don't panic, no not yet, I know I'm the one you want to forget. You are allowed to leave my heart it's time for me to fall apart. Now you're on but I'll be okay your hot whiskey eyes have fanned the flame maybe I'll but a little brighter tonight. Let the fire breathe me back to life. Baby you were my picket fence, I missing you now and then. Chlorine kissed, summer skin, I miss missing you now and then.  Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness get bigger, the person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger. Oh, we're fading fast, I miss missing you now and then. 

"I really like the 'Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness get bigger, the person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger' part," Patrick said. 

"Me too," Pete told him, smiling slightly. "Anyway I'm pretty sure Brendon told you about the 'formally asking to the game' thing."

"Yeah."

"Sorry I haven't asked you yet, I kind of blanked out, I'm just really nervous. Will you wear my number at the game tonight?" Pete asked shyly. 

"Duh," Patrick said. 

"Yay!" He kissed Patrick's cheek and hopped off the bed. "Here, it's clean I promise. I washed it like three times incase you said yes." He balled up the jersey and threw it at Patrick's face. 

"Thanks, Pete," he said sarcastically, prying the jersey off his face. He flipped it the purple uniform over, and saw  WENTZ  printed in white above a large number  27 . He put it on, afraid it wouldn't fit since he was chubbier than Pete, which he was extremely self-conscious about, and was relieved to see that it was a bit big on him. Which meant it must be huge on Pete. 

"I know what you're thinking, and yeah, the uniforms are pretty big. But you look hella cute!" Pete told him. 

Patrick couldn't help but laugh, "'Hella'?"

"That's all Brendon's fault, never speak of it," Pete groaned, blushing. 

Patrick kissed him sweetly. "Whatever you say," he mumbled when he pulled back. 

Pete scrunched his nose up at the other boy. "Meany," he whined like a five year old. 

Patrick giggled, "You're a dork."

"Your dork."

"Exactly. Now what time is the game?" Patrick asked. 

"6:30, and I need to be there at 6. OH FUCK IT'S 5:55! FUCK!" Pete yelled, whipping his shirt off. Patrick looked away slightly, blushing. Pete noticed, smirked, and undid his belt slower. He stared straight at Patrick as he popped the button on his jeans and pulled his zipper down. 

Patrick threw a pillow at him, causing the other boy to cackle like an evil witch. "Peter stop it! You're gonna be late!" Patrick told him. 

Pete threw on his jersey and shorts, then grabbed his bag with his cleats, uniform socks, and shin guards. He hoisted the bag onto his shoulder, ran over to Patrick, kissed him quickly, and ran out the door, barefoot, and calling "Bye darling!" behind him. 

Patrick chuckled, and took off the other uniform. He changed out of his Blink-182 t-shirt and into a longsleeved Green Day shirt, then put the jersey on top, as it was getting a bit colder out. Patrick took off his fedora and fixed his hair a bit, before plopping the fedora back into place. 

He left the room fifteen minutes later, attempting to find Brendon, since they would be in the front row with the girlfriends and one boyfriend of the other players. 

"Hey Pat!" He heard Brendon say, once he was in the lobby of the dorm building. 

"Hey man!" Patrick replied waving. He took note of the shirt Brendon had on, which was a purple jersey exactly the same as his, except it said  ROSS  above a  54  on the back. "Dude, Ryan's jersey is huge on you!" 

"It's huge on him too," Brendon chuckled. "We'll get going in a second, I want to wait for my friend from math, his boyfriend is on the team." Patrick nodded in understanding. 

"CECIL YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR WARM-UPS!" A semi-high voice yelled from down the hallway. A lanky boy with longish blonde hair and dyed purple fringe-y type bangs dashed passed wearing a purple jersey. 

"Bye love!" He called over his shoulder, nearly running into a wall, and laughing at his mistake. Like Pete, he was barefoot.  Another boy came around the corner, and sighed. He had had brown curly hair that was kind of long, but not on the level of Ray's fro. His skin was a semi-dark brown color, so Patrick guessed he was Hispanic. He adjusted his black glasses on his nose, made his way over to them.

"Hey Carlos," Brendon said. 

"Hey yourself Bren," he said. He was wearing a jersey too, but with  PALMER 37  on the back. 

"Patrick this is Carlos. Carlos, Patrick,"

Brendon introduced. 

"H-Hey," Patrick stuttered waving. 

"H-Hello," Carlos stammered back shyly. 

"Christ don't be nervous! You're both like ridiculously nice! Jeez," Brendon said, throwing his arms up into the air. They both laughed at their mutual friend. "Come on boys, let's go!" He said walking out of the building. 

"So what do Cecil and Ryan play?" Patrick asked attempting to make conversation. 

"Ryan plays defense," Brendon said, sounding lovestruck. 

"Cecil's a forward. What about Pete?" Carlos said. 

"He's a forward too. So how good is the team? I uh...haven't been to a game yet,"

He admitted nervously. 

Carlos laughed, "Honestly, no idea. Cecil and I got together the day after the game last week, and I don't really like sports so I've never been."

"Pete and I just got together yesterday and same here," Patrick chuckled. Maybe Carlos wasn't so bad. 

"They're actually pretty good. And Carlos have you heard of your boyfriend's little reputation?" Brendon asked. Carlos shook his head. "Well as you've probably noticed, Cecil has quite a mouth on him, you know, he talks a lot and doesn't have a filter. He's been forced to be benched for of seven of the past ten games because he didn't know when to stop talking. So now, there's a betting pool, run by none other than Bob Bryar, as he's the 'Bet Master', of whether Cecil will get benched this game or not. I personally, have zero faith in your boyfriend, and put my ten bucks in to say that he will get benched. You give Bob ten bucks, or more if you're confident enough, tell him what side you want, and then he splits up the amount he's made up between the number of people for the winning side, but you get your money back before he does that. He's done this for the past three games. Rumor has it, Elton, the music teacher, is in on the bet this round," he rambled on. 

"Wow," Carlos said, drawing out the 'o'. "Of course." 

"That's kinda rough man," Patrick said. 

"Oh Mr. Wentz isn't innocent either, Stump," Brendon told him. "He's gotten benched for screaming at refs and he punched another kid once and got suspended for the rest of the game and the next game. There's a betting pool on his temper and whether he'll lose it or not."

Patrick facepalmed, "Oh, of course there is!" He shouted. Brendon and Carlos laughed, and Brendon smacked Patrick's back reassuringly. 

They got to the field and saw the team sitting on and standing around the bench, waiting the 10 minutes until the game started. Patrick saw Pete pull out his phone to check something, so he quickly texted him. 

TO: Peteypie <3

Dont scream @/ punch/ harm anyone or lose your temper k? There's a betting pool and if you dont Bden will lose $

Patrick could see Pete's shoulder shaking with laughter. 

FROM: Peteypie <3

Ill try not 2 just so hes out of $ 

FROM: Peteypie <3

Rnt we gr8 friends?

Patrick laughed at the after thought. 

TO: Peteypie <3 

Totally 

He saw Pete laugh again, before returning his phone in his bag to listen to the coach. 

"Hey Patrick!" He heard someone say. He turned to see Ashlee coming down from the top of the bleachers. 

"Hey Ash!" He replied. He noticed she had a jersey on that said  JONES 19  on the back. "Ooh, who's Jones?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Ashlee smacked his arm and sat on his other side,

as he laughed. 

"Him," she said pointing to...the douchebag who stole his fedora and that Pete pantsed. 

"Oh..." Patrick said. 

"Don't worry, I know about the science story, he said he felt kind of bad, and apologized to Pete who was supposed to tell you. Also, props to your boyfriend for his revenge."

Patrick laughed, "Yeah, I'm just glad detention is over." 

"Yeah, he's got like two weeks left, but he's just glad he was able to play,"

Ashlee said. 

"What's the science story?" Brendon and Carlos asked in unison. 

Patrick explained what happened that day in science after he ran out of the room in sopping wet clothes. They all laughed when he got to the part where Pete pantsed Jones. Mikey, Frank, Gerard, Ray, and Bob, along with Joe and Andy, sat in the row behind them, and tuned in for the rest of the story, which involved running into Frank and Gerard in the principal's office, and they retold why they were there. 

"Wow," Carlos said, laughing. 

"'Wow' indeed," Brendon agreed. At this point the game started and all of them were all silent until halftime. The game was stilled tied 0-0 at that point, and it was clear that Pete, Cecil, and Ryan specifically were feeling extreme pressure. Cecil and/or Pete needed to score and Ryan was the middle defender, so he had the hardest job of cleaning up everyone's messes. 

"Aw fuck Cecil's gonna start shit," Carlos sighed as the second half of the game started. 

"Way to be supportive," Ashlee chuckled. 

"Fine. Aw fuck Cecil's gonna start shit!" Carlos said in a fake cheery tone. They laughed, but stopped immediately, when they saw that said blonde had the ball, and there was one person in front of him. He made his way towards the goal, did some weird spin move thing none of them knew the name of to get by the other teams defender, and kicked the ball right past the goalie and into the net. 

Everyone on their side of the bleachers stood up, screaming their heads off and clapping. 

Ryan was exhausted, and you could tell, but the coach didn't take him out of the game. He was breathing really hard, and his face was bright red. The other team started with the ball from half, passed it twice before it got to their best player, who easily got by the exhausted Ryan, and scored. 

"Ross, come off!" The coach yelled, having another boy go in. This boy wasn't as good as Ryan, but was pretty close. He managed to keep them from scoring until he was taken out with one minute left in the game. It was still tied 1-1 at this point, and Ryan was put back in. 

The other team got a shot on goal that the goalie easily stopped. As soon as it was in his hands, Pete took off, running past the half mark of the field as the goalie drop kicked the ball. It went over everyone's heads and directly to Pete. Pete quickly passed it to Cecil and took off again, running past the other team's defenders and he was directly in front of the net. Cecil dribbled by a few people, drew goalie out, and fake-shot, before passing it to Pete, who put it into the empty net, just as time ran out. The second the ball hit the back of the net, the referee blew his whistle, signaling the end of the game. Pencey Prep had won. All thanks to Pete's goal, Cecil's pass, and Ryan's amazing defender skills. 

Their side stood up and cheered wildly again. Pete and Cecil hadn't done anything, so the people who lost the bet were a little bit less enthusiastic, but still pretty pumped because they were going to the playoffs for the first time in so many years. 

Cecil ran over to Pete and jumped on him celebrating. The rest of the team did the same, until everyone was in a big group hug/pile of people surrounding Pete. They all broke apart after a minute, and, full of adrenaline, Pete rushed over to the bleachers. He put his arms around Patrick and lifted him up over the barrier separating the field from the spectators. He placed the shorter boy on the ground directly in front of him, placed his hands on his cheeks and kissed him, hard. In front of everyone. 

The crowd went even crazier at this, and Pete couldn't keep the grin off his face long enough to keep kissing his boyfriend. He pulled away grinning and laughing like a mad man, as the barrier was removed and the students and teachers came spilling onto the field. Pete entwined both of his hands with Patrick's, before leaning down and kissing him again. 

"We know you're happy Pete," Mikey said, "BUT EW PDA MOTHER FUCKERS!" He yelped, covering his eyes. 

Patrick went to pull back, but Pete let go of his hands, moving one to Patrick's neck to keep him there a little longer as he used his other hand to flip off Mikey and everyone else with him. He finally pulled back, as he had gotten his point across and couldn't breathe anymore. 

"Sorry about that, Trick," Pete said, still grinning. "I wanted to make Mikey as uncomfortable as possible. 

The laughed and he turned to say something to Brendon, but saw him sucking face with Ryan and trying to swallow the other boy. 

"Okay, at least we didn't do that," Pete said, "I'm like 99 percent sure I just saw Brendon use tongue." They all laughed and Brendon pulled away, glaring at Pete who just smiled at him. "But hey, WE WON!" Pete screamed, "PLAYOFFS HERE WE COME!" 

Another roar went up from the people on the winning team's side. They eventually made their way off the field and into the dining hall for the dinner none of them ate yet. It was tradition to wait until after the game, no matter how long that took, and it was currently 8:30. They went and got their food, celebratory game-style food such as pizza, burgers, hot dogs, nachos, etc. and the seven of them went to sit at their usual table. They were joined by Andy, Joe, Brendon, and Ryan, as Cecil and Carlos went off to find their other friends. 

Pete sat down next to Patrick and tried to pull him closer but he was pushed away. Pete made a whining noise but Patrick refused to move closer then the foot between their chairs. "Please Pattycakes?" He asked, sticking out his bottom lip and abusing his puppy eyes ability. 

"Hell no!" Patrick said indignantly. "You're all gross and sweaty!" 

"At least I don't smell!" Pete retorted, before smelling his jersey and pulling a face. "Scratch that!" 

Everyone at the table laughed, and Brendon subtly scooted his chair away from Ryan, who mocked looking offended. "You stink too," Brendon said simply and shrugging. 

"Rude," he said. 

"Why you gotta be so rude?" Gerard and Frank sang, dragging out the 'u'. 

"I hate that song," Mikey grumbled. 

Ray gasped, "That's an amazing song you shit!" 

Pete used his best announcer voice to say, "On the right folks, we have Frerard, so in sync, yet still unable to realize each has feelings for the other! And on the left ladies and gentlemen, Rikey! Arguing like the old married couple they will be once Mikey stops denying he's at least a half-homo! Seriously, his denying skills are John Watson level!" Gerard choked on his soda, which fueled even more from Pete. "And if you had looked back to the right, you would have seen Gerard choking on his drink folks! That not the only thing he'll be choking on tonight!" Gerard went bright red, and Pete added, "I mean, let's face it, Frank tops, but Gerard will definitely be the one going down on him tonight!" They were all laughing uncontrollably, except Gerard and Frank. 

"I would apologize on Pete's behalf," Patrick started saying seriously , "but I'm not going to because that was amazing." They all agreed and then finished eating. 

Gerard and Frank went back to their dorms with Mikey and Ray. Needless to say, that was an awkward walk. 

"It would be a little bit less awkward if we were all straight," Frank said. 

"I am straight!" Mikey huffed angrily. 

"And my name's Charlotte and I'm secretly a woman," Frank said. "Both are lies so stop denying it dude." 

"As soon as you stop denying you want to fuck Gerard," Mikey shot back. 

"Even if I did you all know I couldn't! My dad would find out somehow and I'd be fucking screwed," Frank screamed. They all went quiet. 

"Same here," Mikey whispered. Gerard nodded in agreement. 

"You know what?" Gerard said as they made it to the staircase where they would split up. "Screw them, I hope he finds out I'm a raging homo. He's a shitty father, he deserves to be disappointed."

"Agreed," Mikey said. "And... I don't know my sexuality, okay? Bi doesn't seem right but neither does gay or straight. I'm really freaking confused."

"Mikey don't worry," Ray said, there's so many sexualities out there. Hell I'm none of those either, I'm pansexual. It means I don't care about gender at all, I love people for their personality."

"That...that actually helps a lot. I think I might be...potsexual?" He asked. 

Ray laughed, " Pan sexual, Mikes."

"Oh. Well, on that awkward note, see you guys later," Mikey waved before walking onto his floor as the others continued up the stairs. 

They split up when the reached their dorms. Ray headed inside but Gerard waited. "Hey Frank," he said. "If you ever need anyone to confide to about your sexuality or anything like crushes and stuff, I'll be here."

"Thanks, Gee," Frank said before pushing open his door and disappearing behind it. 

** "But how can I confide in you about my crush, when you  are  my crush?" He muttered against the now closed door. He sighed, and then trudged off to sleep.  **


	6. Memes and Dancing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nope, not formatted in the slightest. *runs out of shits to give*

Patrick woke up the next morning and attempted to move, but there was something on top of his arm. It was a shirtless Pete Wentz. 

Hold on,  Patrick thought,  shirtless?  Oh crap...

After a quick check under the blankets, he realized he was still fully clothed and Pete had pajama bottoms on. 

Okay so I'm still a virgin. I'm a virgin that really needs to pee, but a virgin nonetheless,  Patrick thought, sighing in relief. 

"Pete, please wake up," he said shaking the other boy, "Pete. Pete. Pete. Pete," he punctuated each word with a poke to a different part to Pete's face. He sighed when the other boy didn't move at all. 

For an insomniac, he freaking sleeps really heavily,  Patrick thought. 

He sighed, "Pete there's pizza."

The other boy jumped up and fell off the bed. Before Patrick could see if he was okay, the top of Pete's head popped over the side of the mattress. His brown eyes were wide. "Pizza?" He whispered. "Where?"

"Nowhere, you were on my arm and I need to pee, bye!" Patrick said, rushing into the bathroom, and locking the door before Pete could get him for lying about pizza. 

"Never lie about pizza Tricky!" Pete called after him. "You'll get payback for that one mister!"

Patrick finished doing his business and washing his hands, before slowly opening the door and peeking out. Pete was standing two feet away, with his arms crossed, glaring at the door. Patrick opened the door enough to innocently smile at the other boy. "Hi Petey," he said innocently. 

"Don't you 'hi Petey' me," Pete said. "Lying about pizza is a serious offence, Patrick.  Very serious. You'll have to leave at some point, breakfast starts in half an hour, and then you'll have half an hour before music. You need your half hour before to get ready. If you're smart you'd get out of there now and face your punishment." 

Patrick sighed, before opening the door all the way and slowly stepping out. Pete walked forward and kissed him gently, taking him completely by surprise. He rested his hands on the shorter boy's stomach. Patrick squirmed at the touch. Pete lightly moved his fingers around Patrick's stomach. 

"Pete that tickles stop it," Patrick said, giggling a bit. Pete just grinned at him evilly. 

Oh. Crap,  Patrick thought, the smile vanishing from his face. Pete pressed his fingers back into the other boy's stomach and moved them around quickly, darting from the front of his stomach to his ribs to his sides. 

"PETE NO! I'M SORRY!" Patrick said shrieking with laughter. 

"That's great!" Pete said, pulling back briefly. Patrick barely caught his breath before Pete pushed him back into his bed. The taller boy straddled his legs, pinning them down. He continued to tickle Patrick for about two minutes. The other boy was shrieking laughing, tears in his eyes, trying to swat Pete away. "I think you've learned your lesson," Pete said climbing off Patrick and sitting next to him. The other boy sat up, trying to catch his breath. 

"I hate you," he said to his boyfriend. 

"Do you? Do you really?" Pete asked. 

"No," Patrick giggled. "But if I'm late for music that answer will change." Patrick got up to get ready. They made it down to breakfast in time, and some how Pete managed to charm the lunch lady into giving him cold pizza. 

"I will never understand your powers," Gerard said as they sat down. 

"Probably cuz of the goal last night," he said shrugging and taking a bite of his pepperoni pizza. 

"Nice, could you get me some?" Frank joked. 

"Sorry man, no can do," Pete said. "The Wentz charm only works on a person once."

"It worked on Patrick more than once," Gerard said. 

"Just like you fell for the 'Iero Charm'," Patrick sassed back. 

"Woah, Wentz's personality is affecting Patty!" Bob said. 

"We must quarantine him immediately!" Frank deadpanned. 

"I diagnose 100cc of spending an entire day away from Pete!" Gerard said. 

"The patient," Patrick said, pointing at himself, "Says no." 

"Boo," Ray said. "Come on, we've got music, and we signed out the practice room for our two groups."

They headed off to the building their class was in, checked in with Elton, and went to the practice room where they met up with Andy and Joe. 

"Hey guys -- WOAH ANDY YOUR HAIR!" Pete exclaimed. Andy's previously long curly hair was cut short into a faux hawk style haircut. He was also no longer wearing glasses. 

"Uh yeah I cut it," Andy chucked, blushing. 

"Duh!" Pete exclaimed. "Oh Trick and I started three songs, we'll let you choose which one we'll do." Pete handed them the notebook the lyrics were written in. 

"I like the last one," Joe said. Andy nodded in agreement. They set the notebook on the table next to them. 

"Okay we'll do that one," Pete said. The other five had gotten to work and Gerard was walking in circles muttering words to himself that were probably the lyrics. 

"Gee, calm down, you don't need to memorize the lyrics yet," Frank said. 

"I need to get the chorus at least, I have to perform it for Elton after school for him to grade dude!" Gerard said. 

"Wait what? Perform?" Patrick said, eyes  going wide. 

"Yeah, but just the singer for Elton," Ray said. 

"Fuck no I can't do that shit!" Patrick yelled. They all stopped short because  holy smokes Patrick Stump just swore. 

"Trick it's gonna be okay, it's just him," Pete tried. 

"No it's not Pete!" He screamed breathing heavily. "I can even sing in front of you, how will I be able to in front of our teacher for a  grade?!? " He was pacing and gripping his hair. He had knocked his fedora off at some point. "I can't I can't I can't," he kept repeating. 

"Trick lets go outside okay?" He said gently, and lead the trembling boy outside. As soon as they were in the hallway, he pulled Patrick to his chest. The shorter boy didn't even react, he just kept his hands curled into his chest and was muttering to himself. Patrick wasn't breathing properly and crying and  oh holy fucking hell he's having a panic attack.  "Patrick breathe, it's okay, you don't need to perform, it's fine. I know you're feeling horrible right now, but it'll be okay, I promise."

Eventually, his breathing slowed. "Sorry," he said, wiping away a few tears. "I'm a baby."

"No, you have social anxiety and panic attacks. That's completely different and it's okay."

"Thanks Pete," he said. He pulled back and continued, "But what are we going to do if I can't perform?" 

"Would you be okay with singing just to me and letting me record it in the little room studio thing in the other practice room?" Pete asked. Patrick nodded. "Okay I'll go ask Elton." He walked into the main room and asked to see Elton in the hallway. He explained Patrick's social anxiety, what had just happened, and his idea. 

"That's a great idea Pete, and I'm perfectly fine with it," Elton said. "Why don't you boys go into the recording room and do that right now. Also, no sex in the music room," he added with a wink before walking back to class. 

Pete laughed once he got over his initial shock. He went to the practice room to tell everyone else the plan, grabbed the notebook and Patrick's fedora. 

"Alright come on Trick," he said, leading the other boy towards the music room. He handed him his notebook and placed the fedora on his head. "Do you have a basic tune for it?" Patrick nodded in reply. 

He walked into the booth and sat in front of the microphone. He put the headphones on upside down so they wouldn't crush the fedora. Pete pressed the button that allowed him to talk to Patrick while he was in the booth and said, "That's the cutest thing I've seen ever," Pete said. Patrick blushed and opened the notebook to the lyrics page. 

"Um ok, hit record," he mumbled  into the microphone. Pete hit the button and gave him a thumbs up. He opened up his mouth and very quietly sang,

" Don't panic, no not yet

I know I'm the one you want to forget. You are allowed to leave my heart 

it's time for me to fall apart. 

Now you're on but I'll be okay,

your hot whiskey eyes have fanned the flame

maybe I'll burn a little brighter tonight. 

Let the fire breathe me back to life

Baby you were my picket fence, 

I missing you now and then. 

Chlorine kissed, 

summer skin, 

I miss missing you now and then. Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness get bigger, 

the person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger. 

Oh, we're fading fast,

I miss missing you now and then ." He faded out and Pete's jaw had dropped after the first note. 

"It was bad wasn't it?" Patrick sighed. 

"IT WAS AMAZING TRICK HOLY FUCK YOU'RE GOOD!" Pete screamed. 

"Really?" Patrick asked looking confused by this possibility. 

"Really, could you do it a bit louder, just so I can pick it up clearly?" Pete asked. Patrick nodded and ran through it again. "Great job! Mind if we play it for Joe and Andy so they know what rhythm to work with?" Patrick nodded. "Alright, come on out," Pete told him, setting the audio file to send to his phone. Patrick set the headphones down and left the room with his notebook. 

They walked back into the practice room, and by this time, class was half over. Andy and Joe put their fingers to their lips, signaling for them to be quite. 

" I'm not okay, I'm not okay-ay ," they heard Gerard singing. " I'm not okay-ay-ay, you wear me out. What will it take you show you that it's not the life it seems. I've told you time and time again, you sing the words but don't know what it means to be a joking look, another line without a hook, I held you close as we both shook for the last time, TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK! " He stopped after that. "That's what we have so far," he said. 

"It's good, I like it," Andy said.

"Agreed," Pete said, "well at least what I heard." He walked over to the other side of the room where Andy and Joe were, and Patrick followed him. 

"Hey, Patrick recorded it and he'll let me play it for you guys, if you want to hear it. The rhythm and melody he had was pretty good," Pete told them. 

"Sure, let's hear it," Joe said. Pete hit the play button the audio file and Patrick's voice came out at full volume before he could turn it down enough. The other five guys looked over at them, amazed. 

" Don't panic, no not yet,"  the recording sang. Patrick blushed and looked down at his notebook, which he had balanced in his lap as he sat on a stool. 

"Woah," Joe said after it had finished, "You're amazing!" 

"T-Thanks," Patrick replied. 

"Mind if we hear it Trick?" Frank asked. 

"S-Sure," he stuttered. Pete hit play again and let the recording sound out again. 

"I love it," Bob said, "You're a great singer and the lyrics are great, who wrote them?"

"Patrick and I," Pete said. 

"Nice," Ray said. 

"Yours are good too, who wrote them?" Patrick asked. 

"Gerard," Mikey told them. 

"They're really good Gee," Patrick said. 

"Thanks guys. Hey, you excited for the Ball in two days?" Gerard asked. 

"Hell yeah I am!" Pete replied. 

"Same here, plus it's my birthday!" Frank said, grinning like a four year old. 

"We know, Frank," Mikey groaned. "You won't shut up about it."

"No need to be that way,  Unicorn Boy ," Frank said. 

"WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?!?" Mikey screeched. 

"Gerard's phone. When I stole it," Frank said, holding up said phone, causing Gerard's eyes to go wide. 

"Frank! Give it back!" Gerard whined, trying to pry his phone away from the other boy. 

"Nope!" Frank told him. Gerard tackled him, causing him to land on the ground with a loud crashing sound. They continued to wrestle around for the phone and roll across the floor. 

"It looks like they're trying to fuck each other and are failing at it," Andy said causing them all to burst out laughing. 

"Guys, Elton said no sex in the music room!" Pete scolded jokingly. 

"Fuck off Wentz," Gerard said, standing up now that he had reacquired his phone 

"Fuck Iero, Way," Pete retorted. 

"No sex in the music room," Bob repeated in a deadpan tone causing them to laugh again. 

The bell rang and they went through the rest of the day monotonously. When the final bell rang, Gerard left his classroom and headed to the music room where he met Patrick and Brendon. 

"Brendon? You have music too?" He asked. 

"Yeah but I'm in the other class," Brendon explained. 

Gerard nodded, "Makes sense."

They entered the classroom and there were about 10 other kids in there. Elton called them out one by one to perform for him. 

" Cause it's nine in the afternoon, your eyes are the size of the moon, you could 'cause you can so you do. We're feeling so good, just the way that we do, when it's nine in the afternoon ," Gerard heard Brendon singing from the hallway. 

Gerard was next and sang what he had done earlier in the practice room. He came back inside to grab his bag and told

Patrick he'd wait outside. 

"Hello, Patrick," Elton said as he walked into the room. 

"H-Hi," he replied. 

"Can you play the recording?" Elton asked 

Patrick nodded, pulled out his phone, went the the message Pete had sent him with the audio file, and hit play. 

"That's very good Patrick," Elton said once he was finished. "You have a great voice, I hope you'll be able to perform it at the show mid-semester with everyone else."

"I'll try," Patrick promised. 

~~**~~

Frank barged into Gerard and Ray's room on Friday morning. 

"WAKE UP MOTHER FUCKERS, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, HALLOWEEN, AND THE DAY IF THE BALL!" He screamed, causing the other two boys to jolt awake. 

"Fucking hell Frank why are you so early?" Ray grumbled. 

"We've got school," he said shrugging. 

"We don't have school on the days of dances you idiot," Ray said. "Remember, all those girls complained about not having enough time to get ready and the headmaster was like 'Fuck it, no school on dance days so I don't have to deal with this all the time'?" 

"Oh...oh yeah. Oh well! Wake up bitches!"

Frank screamed. 

"Yeah okay, no," Ray said, climbing out of bed, "I'm going to Bob's dorm because he doesn't have a roommate and literally said if you piss me off too much I can so I need sleep so by." He left trying not to slam the door. 

"Gee! Wake up!" Frank whined. Gerard just groaned into his pillow. "Come on lazy! Up!" He groaned again. "Dude, you need to be awake to dance with people."

"The dance isn't until later and I'm not dancing with anyone," Gerard said into the pillow. 

"Why?" 

"I don't know how," he mumbled. 

"Unacceptable! I shall teach you! Awaken!" Frank yelled. 

"It's six a.m., I'm not dancing at six a.m. you fuck. Come back at noon," Gerard said.

"I'll just stay here until noon, thanks."

"Well I'm gonna sleep, so shut up and sleep too," Gerard said, rolling over and closing his eyes. Frank fell back into his bed next to him. "I didn't mean here, but whatever."

Frank fell asleep right after Gerard. The brown haired boy woke up four hours later and Gerard didn't wake up until exactly noon. 

"See, I told you, noon," Gerard said, getting out of bed and stretching. 

"Okay well come on," Frank said, dragging the other boy off of his bed. "It's time for you to learn to dance mister."

He plugged his phone into Gerard's speakers and put his spotify on shuffle. After about an hour of him attempting to teach the flaming red headed boy how to dance, the song First Date by Blink-182 came on. Like all of the other songs, they continued to sing and dance to this one. 

" In the car I just can't wait ," Gerard sang. 

" To pick you up on our very first date ,"

Frank replied. 

" Is it cool if I hold your hand ?" Gerard sang back, stepping towards the other boy and grabbing his hand before spinnin him. 

" Is it wrong if I think it's lame to dance ?" Frank sang, smirking and moving a little closer to Gerard. 

" Do you like my stupid hair ?" Gerard replied, pointing to his bright red mop of dyed hair. 

" Would you guess that I didn't know what to wear ?" Frank stepped back, releasing Gerard's hand and gestured to his outfit. 

" I'm too scared of what you think ."

" You make me nervous so I really can't eat ." Frank was a bit quieter on this line, as he stepped closer to Gerard, looking into the taller boy's eyes. 

" Let's go, don't wait, this night's almost over ," Gerard basically whispered, moving so he and Frank were about three inches away from each other. 

" Honest, let's make this night last forever ," Frank whispered. He stared straight up at Gerard and, unable to help it, stood on his toes and kissed the red haired boy. 

Oh fuck,  he thought,  there goes our friendship. 

But he was wrong, Gerard kissed him back, wrapping his arms around the shorter boy's waist and pulling him closer. Frank's arms went around Gerard's neck. Frank pulled away a minute or so later, unable to breathe.

"What--what was that?" Gerard asked breathlessly. 

"I um...I like you Gee, a lot," Frank muttered looking down. 

"I like you too Frankie, a lot," he said, mimicking the other boy. 

Frank stuck his tongue out at him, "No need to mock the birthday boy." 

"Yeah well, I'm gonna anyway," Gerard sassed. 

"That's mean," Frank pouted. 

"Fine, I guess you don't get to be kissed again," Gerard said, unwrapping his arms from the boy's waist and attempting to walk away. 

"No! Gee!" Frank whined. "You're super amazing and nice!" Frank whined. 

Gerard laughed, "Flattery will get you everywhere Frankie." He leaned down and kissed him again. "So...what does this make us?" He asked when he pulled away. 

"Well, I'd like a boyfriend for my birthday, if you're up for the task," Frank told him. 

"Gladly."

They were silent for about thirty seconds before Frank laughed. 

"What?" Gerard asked. 

"Brendon's gonna cry and drown in his own happy tears now that we're together,"

Frank told him. 

Gerard laughed, "Oh my god, you're right. So...are we going to tell people?"

"Let's see if they can deduce it," Frank said. 

"Okay," Gerard agreed. "Let's go get food, I'm hungry."

"Okay and hey, it's not really super formal, but will you be my date to the dance?" Frank asked sarcastically. 

Gerard laughed, "Fuck off but yes."

They walked down to the dining hall, and saw Ray, Bob, Mikey, Patrick, and a half asleep Pete lying with his head on his boyfriends shoulder. 

"Pete, you need sleep," Mikey said. 

"Four words," the tired boy replied, "In. Som. Ni. A."

"Those are syllables, Pete," Gerard said sitting down next to his brother and Frank sat next to him. 

"I don't give a fuck, I'm tired," Pete whined. 

"Find something to help you sleep," Ray suggested. 

"I know what'll help him sleep," Bob said, wiggling his eyebrows. Patrick went bright red. 

"Bob!" He squeaked. The blonde boy burst out laughing, as did everyone else. 

"I'm not fucking Patrick every night, that just sounds painful for him," Pete said. 

Mikey snorted, "Patty's little ass can't take it, eh?" Patrick blushed and started spluttering a reply. 

"He has a nice ass," Pete said sleepily. Patrick's face got even redder somehow. 

He started slapping Pete's arm with both hands and pushed the boy off his shoulder. "Stop talking about my ass!" He squeaked again. 

"If I do can I keep using you as a pillow?" Pete asked.

"Fine," Patrick grumbled.

"Yay," he put his head back where it was and looked basically dead. 

"Gerard has a nice ass," Frank said. 

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HAVING THEM DEDUCE?" Gerard shrieked. 

"THEY STILL COULD'VE! GEE YOU RUINED IT!" Frank yelled back. 

"The fuck?" Pete mumbled sleepily. 

"Gerard and I are dating," Frank said. 

"FUCK YES!" Pete yelled sitting up, "20 BUCKS BRYAR, FORK IT OVER!"

"Fucking hell!" Bob said, digging out a 20 and handing it to Pete, who collected it then continued to "sleep" on Patrick's shoulder. 

"But, don't tell people okay? If my dad finds out I'm fucked," Frank said. 

"Got it," Ray told him. "Ew wait, did you have sex in my bed when I left?"

"No," Frank said. "We had sex in front of your bed."

"EW HOLY FUCK NO OH MY GOD!" Ray screamed. 

"Dude I'm kidding," Frank said. "Gerard's virgin ass is yet to be penetrated."

"What makes you think I'm a virgin?" Gerard asked. "And what makes you think I'm a bottom?!?" 

"Frank tops," everyone else said in unison. 

"Well then," Gerard mumbled. 

"Anyway, you guys want to meet in mine and Gerard's room before the dance to get ready?" Ray asked. 

"Sure, why not?" Mikey said. 

"Yeah but I'm gonna take a nap now," Pete said. "What time?"

"Dance is at 7 so...6?" Ray asked. They didn't serve dinner before the dance, instead there was just random amounts of junk food put out at the dance itself. 

"Sure," Pete said. 

"I'm gonna attempt to write more lyrics," Patrick said. "See you guys later." He and Pete left to go back to their room, Pete's head on his shoulder the whole way. 

"So," Mikey said, leaving his fingers together, "How did Frerard become cannon?"

"I was teaching your brother how to dance, and First Date came on, we were singing, and I kissed him," Frank said, nonchalantly and picking at his salad. 

"Aw, that's adorable," Ray said. 

"Shut it Toro," Gerard said. "Don't be a meany!"

"Bob's the meany," Ray said. 

"I am not!" Bob retorted, throwing a tater tot at Ray, where it then got stuck in his fro. 

"Dude! Not cool!" Ray said, taking the tot and throwing it back. 

The rest of lunch consisted of a tater tot war between Ray and Bob, with Frank flicking bits of lettuce at Bob off his spoon. 

Pete and Patrick, who were back in their room, were lying on Pete's bed. Pete was under the blankets, attempting to sleep, and Patrick was under them with him, notebook in his lap, attempting to add another verse. 

"Patrick," Pete whined drawing out the 'i'. "I can't sleeeeep."

"What do you want me to do?" Patrick asked. 

"I don't know," Pete groaned. 

"Do you...want me to sing to you?" Patrick asked. 

"If you don't mind."

" Don't talk, to strangers. Oh, in the strangest dreams, walking by your side, " Patrick sang. 

"Is that Bastille?" Pete asked. 

"Yes, it's Sleepsong. Now shut up," Patrick said. Pete snuggled into his side as he continued. " It is the hole you impose upon your life. When you're out loneliness, it crawls up in the ground. It's what you feel, but can't articulate out loud. Oh you go to sleep on your own and you wake each day with your thoughts. And it scares you being alone, it's a last resort. All you want is someone onto whom you can cling, your mother warned you of strangers and the dangers they may bring. Your dreams and memories are blurring into one. The seams which hold the waking world slowly come undone. " He looked down at Pete, who was making soft little noises in his sleep. His head was on the pillow and one of his arms was loosely wrapped around Patrick's waist. 

At 6, Gerard and Frank were in Gerard's dorm, with Ray, Bob and Mikey. They had parts of their costumes on, nothing too detailed, mainly just the body suit Gerard had, Mikey's jeans and t-shirt, Frank the undershirt and pants for his Frankenstein costume, Bob and Ray ripped jeans and a t-shirt on for Bob's mugging victim costume and Ray's zombie costume.

Gerard was shaking a bottle or temporary white hair dye. He had bought every color he could find of the stuff for some reason. "I'm gonna use white to add to the whole dead affect," he explained. "I mean, skeleton's don't have red hair. And it'll just wash out and leave the red when I'm done."

"I don't think you're supposed to put temporary hair dye on top of the real stuff," Ray said. 

"What's the worst that could happen?" Gerard said, walking over to the open window and starting to spray his red locks. 

"You'll end up with pink hair," Frank told him. Gerard just shrugged and stuck his head out of the large window. 

The door opened and Pete and Patrick walked in. Patrick had on his white t-shirt, jeans, converse, and a white fedora. Pete had the dark green jeans and light green flowy shirt for his costume on and brown boots. They both kicked off their shoes and said their hellos. 

"Hey Gerard, can I use some orange for my hair?" Pete asked. 

"Sure, but put your head out the window when I'm done or Ray will kill you," Gerard said. 

Pete and Patrick set the rest of their costumes down on the bed, Patrick's wings were now on top of Mikey's. 

"Patty," Bob said. "There ain't no way you're keeping that fedora on."

"But--" Patrick started. 

"No," they all said in unison. 

"Ugh fine," he took it off, and Bob turned back to the mirror he was looking in. Patrick hurled the fedora at his head like a frisbee. 

"That's not very nice, Patty," Bob said. 

"It's Patrick, I'm a dude, Patty is a girls' name!" Patrick huffed. 

"Sure, Jan," Frank said. 

"Did you just quote the fucking Brady Bunch?" Gerard asked, walking over to Bob. 

"Yes, it's a meme," Frank told his boyfriend. 

"A...what?" Ray asked. 

"A meme. There's a bunch of them on the Internet. Have you really never heard of them?" Frank asked. Everyone but Pete shook their heads. 

"I know what memes are," Pete said, sticking his head out the window to spray it. "So knowledge, much meme, very Internet," he said, smirking. Frank laughed. 

"Oh that's what memes are?" Gerard asked. "Like the 'I crave that mineral' thing that went around Tumblr forever?"

"Yup!" Frank said. "Damn, you look sexy with white hair."

"Thanks," Gerard said, blushing. 

"So hair, much sexy, very dye," Pete piped up. 

"Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz the Third I will push you out the window," Mikey said. 

"And then Brendon would kill you because his plans for mine and Pat's wedding would be canceled," Pete said, ducking back in the room. "I am a ginger!" 

"Rude," Patrick said. 

"Whatever, but no more memes," Mikey said. 

"Sure, Jan," Frank whispered. Mikey tackled him onto Ray's bed and sat on him. 

"I'm not moving until you stop, I don't care if it's your birthday, I'll throw your gifts out the window," Mikey said. 

"Okay! I'll stop! Get off me, you're heavy," Frank said, pushing the lanky boy off him. 

"Your name is Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz the Third?" Patrick asked Pete, smirking. 

"Shut it Patrick Vaughn Stump," Pete said. 

"How the heck did you know that?" Patrick asked. 

"Frank told me," Pete said. 

"Frank!" Patrick whined. "I'm burning your gift."

"No that's okay!" Frank ran over to the small pile of boxes on the floor that they had brought. "I'm gonna open these while Gee does everyone else make up."

He opened them all and it took about half an hour. Mikey had gotten him a red t-shirt that said 'HOMOPHOBIA IS GAY' on it, that he found online. Ray and Bob each got him a band t-shirt, Patrick got him a Misfits hoodie, Pete got him a Metallica CD, and Gerard got him Green Day tickets. 

"Holy fuck Gerard!" Frank said. "Thank you so much!" 

"No problem, I actually got them really cheap. The date for them is over Christmas break. Did you check the rest of the box?" Gerard told him. 

"OH MY FUCK BACKSTAGE PASSES HOLY SHIT GERARD YOU'RE AMAZING!" Frank screeched, leaping into Gerard's arms. 

"No problem, and you're lucky the face paint brush wasn't on Ray's face when you did that or there would've been a huge brown streak across his face," Gerard said laughing. "Now off, I need to finish Toro's face then do yours and mine still." He grabbed the airbrush and sprayed Ray's whole face green. 

"Damn, Ray's gonna win the costume contest," Bob said. Gerard was really into this stuff and had bought Hollywood level makeup, so he was able to make parts of Ray's skin look like they were peeling off. 

"Maybe," Ray said. Frank hopped up onto the chair that Ray had just vacated. 

About 20 minutes later, it was 7, and the dance was starting. "We don't want to leave for a good 10 more minutes," Frank said. "Then we don't have to witness the awkward first ten minutes of a dance that always happens here." 

"Okay that works," Mikey said. He and Patrick were putting on their jackets and wings, and looked pretty cool, since the were total opposites. 

"Patrick take off the fucking fedora," Bob said. Patrick had taken it and put it back on earlier. 

"Ugh fine!" Patrick took it off and threw it on the bed. 

"So that's what the top of your head looks like," Mikey deadpanned. 

"You're so mean Mikey!" Patrick pouted. 

"I am the angel of darkness," he said, putting on the headband with the thorn halo. 

"True," Patrick said, putting on his halo and struggling with his wings. "Ugh, holy smokes these things are annoying!" 

Bob was laughing at him, "'Holy smokes' that's too cute," he said, pinching Patrick's reddening cheek. 

"Shut up Bryar," Patrick growled, smacking his hand away. 

"Come on, let's go," Gerard said, finishing airbrushing the last part of the back circle around his eye. 

"Holy shit, these are all really good Gerard!" Pete said. Bob looked like he actually got beat up, Ray looked like a Hollywood level zombie, Frank's was better than any mask, and Gerard looked as much like an actual skeleton as a living person can. 

"Damn," Mikey said. They left the room and headed down to the dining hall where the dance was going to be held. They walked in and saw all the tables had been pushed up against the walls and the chairs had been removed. They all moved towards the back corner and we're just talking amongst themselves when Brendon, in a freaking 'slutty' nurse costume, came up to them with Ryan, who was dressed as a doctor. 

"Hey guys!" He called. 

"I fucking love your costume!" Pete said laughing. 

"Thanks man! It's fucking dope!" Brendon said, then giggled. 

"He's drunk off his ass, ignore him," Ryan said. "He tried to pour beer on himself."

"There's alcohol?" Frank asked. 

"Some guys brought it in," Ryan said. 

"Wow of course," Bob said. "Well, I'm gonna go find those drunk guys and scam them out of their money with bets, see you guys later." He vanished into the crowd. 

"Come one Gerard!" Frank said, "I didn't teach you to dance for nothing!" He dragged the other boy out onto the dance floor, who then shot and 'Please Help Me' look at his brother, who just laughed and waved. 

"Um Mikey?" Ray asked. 

"Yeah?" Mikey said turning to his friend. 

"Do you uh--" Ray started before being cut off by some girl. 

"Hey Mikey!" She giggled. "Wanna dance?" 

"Sure Alicia," he said. He walked off with her, never letting Ray finish his question. 

Ray's face fell, and he walked off towards the drink table. 

"Hey Pete," Patrick said, "I'm gonna go talk to Ray, okay?" 

"Sure Tricky," Pete said. He leaned down to kiss the other boy quickly. "You're a great friend to Ray."

"Thanks," he said, smiling before walking off. 

"Mr. Wentz, I'm going to pretend I didn't see that!" Elton said, smirking at him. 

Pete laughed as his teacher walked over to him, "Hey Elton, you got stuck on chaperoning duty?"

"Oh I volunteered," he said. Pete cocked an eyebrow. "It's funny, to watch the people here. They think we don't know they're drunk and have alcohol, but we do. Also, I like to keep an eye on people, as some of the boys will get a little handsy when tipsy. Some of the girls too," he explained

"That's really nice of you to do," Pete told him. 

"Thank you Pete," Elton said. They continued to talk about music and his project for a little while. 

Patrick walked through the back of the room, trying to find Ray. He saw the boy outside, sitting on the grass with his knees pulled to his chest. "Hey Ray, what's wrong?" Patrick asked, sitting down next to the other boy. 

"I like Mikey," he whispered. "I was gonna ask him to dance, but Alicia beat me to it." 

"Mikey escaped as quickly as he could dude. She was grinding all over him and he clearly didn't like it," Patrick chuckled. 

"Really?"

"Yeah, now, go and ask Mikey to dance. If he says yes, confess your feelings. If not, confess them anyway. It would be better for him to know than not to know, you need to get it off your chest, or it will kill you inside," Patrick said. 

"Thanks Patrick. I'll go ask him," Ray said. They both stood up and Patrick hugged him. 

"Good, I'm glad, you deserve happiness Ray."

"Chick flick moment over?" Ray asked, laughing. 

"You bet. Who are you, Dean Winchester?" Patrick joked. 

"You bet. Well, I haven't got the hair, for it," Ray said. "I've got more than I need."

Patrick laughed and opened the door, letting Ray walk inside in front of him. 

They walked over and found Pete and Mikey talking to Elton. 

"Hey guys," Mikey said. "Elton was telling us how music students can volunteer for the Holiday Concert and perform original songs."

"We'd love to have you, Patrick," Elton said, "If you're up for it." 

"Uh...maybe," Patrick said. 

"You don't have to, don't worry," Elton said. Patrick just nodded. "Well I'll let you boys enjoy the rest of your dance now," he said, waving and walking off.

"Hey, Ray," Mikey said, "What'd you want to ask me earlier?"

"Oh...um, do you want to dance with me?" Ray asked, looking down at his shoes. 

Mikey giggled and beamed. "I'd love to." He grabbed Ray's hand and pulled him out to the dance floor, just as a slower song came on. 

"Well, now that everyone's happy," Pete said, "can I finally dance with my boyfriend?" He held  out his hand, which Patrick took, nodding. 

Gerard and Frank had been dancing the whole night, Frank rather well, and Gerard...not as well. They were both laughing hysterically at Gerard's attempts of copying what Frank did. People kept coming by and complementing their costumes and makeup, and Frank gave Gerard all the credit. A slower song eventually came on, and Frank pulled Gerard to him, and rested his head on the taller boys chest. 

"I can feel your heartbeat increasing," Frank said. He looked up at Gerard and smirked. 

"Well, there's an adorable guy right near me, of course it will be increasing," Gerard said. 

"I'm adorable?" Frank said, grinning cheekily. 

"Yup you're -- holy fuck Mikey's dancing with Ray!" Gerard said, cutting himself off mid-sentence. 

"Wait what?!?" Frank said. He turned a bit to see that they were in fact, dancing together. Both were blushing, a lot, but it was a rather adorable scene to witness. 

"I swear if Ray hurts my baby brother," Gerard growled, going into overprotective brother mode. 

"Gee, calm down," Frank said. 

"But--" Gerard started before Frank cut him off by kissing him forcefully. 

"Mr. Iero!" Mrs. Johnson, the science teacher yelled. "I saw that!" 

Frank pulled away and grinned at her sheepishly. As soon as she turned around that grin was replaced with a smirk and he muttered, "Cockblock," in her direction. 

"Thankfully the make up won't smudge," Gerard said, "Or that would be awkward for everyone, seeing as my lips would be green and yours would be white."

Frank laughed, "True."

The song ended and they pulled apart. 

"Alright everyone," Elton said into the microphone he stole from the DJ at the front of the room. "Costume contest time! The people with the five most votes were...Ray Toro...Lindsey Ballato...Brendon Urie and Ryan Ross, as a duo costume...Patrick Stump and Mikey Way, as a duo costume...and finally...Frank Iero!" Everyone clapped as those people went towards the little platform at the front of the room. "I would like to point out that the makeup Ray Toro and Frank Iero have was done by Gerard Way!" A spot light went on Gerard, who waved a little. "Anyway...the third place winner...Patrick Stump and Mikey Way's duo costume, the Angels of Light and Darkness!" Each of them was given an envelope that had their prize in it. "Second place goes to...Brendon Urie and Ryan Ross's duo costume, the doctor and, uh...nurse." Everyone laughed and Brendon and Ryan stepped forward and accepted their envelopes. "And the winner...Frank Iero's costume, Frankenstein!" Everyone cheered for his costume, and he accepted his prize. "Happy birthday to Frank as well!" Elton said. "And now, the dance is over, go back to your dorms and head off to sleep!" Almost all of the students 'booed' at him and he laughed. "Just go!" They all did as they were told. 

They all walked back into Ray and Gerard's room to get their stuff. "Fuck Brian," Frank said. "I'm spending the night here."

"Gross," Ray said. 

"You want to come to mine Ray? I don't have a roommate," Mikey said. 

"Gladly," Ray said. 

"Aye, Toro!" Gerard said. "Fuck my brother and I'll fucking kill you, got it?" Patrick laughed and so did Frank, but Ray, Pete, and Mikey, knew he was serious. 

"Yeah definitely," Ray said. He grabbed some pajamas and left, Mikey taking his hand as they left. 

Bob followed after them after he grabbed his stuff. 

"Later Frerard!" Pete said, smirking. 

"Bye Peterick!" Frank called back. Pete laughed, flipped him off, then locked his hand with Patrick's. 

"You look nice with white hair," Frank said. "I wasn't lying, you suit it."

"Thanks," he said. "I'm gonna go shower to get all of this stuff off my face and out of my hair."

"Can I join?" Frank called after him, smirking. 

"Fuck off and fuck no!" Gerard said, locking the bathroom door behind him. He managed to get his hair back to red and his face free of makeup, before climbing out and realizing he didn't have clean boxers, and his clothes were missing. All there was was a fluffy white towel. "Frank!" He called. "Did you steal my clothes?!?"

"Maybe..." Frank called back. 

"I literally hate you," Gerard said. He walked out, with the towel wrapped around his waist, before grabbing boxers and sweatpants and dashing back to the bathroom before Frank could get him. He walked out a minute later, and told Frank, "The bathroom's all yours."

"Thanks, doll," Frank said, winking, and smacking Gerard's ass as he walked past. 

"Frank!" He yelped, as the other boy cackled. Gerard climbed into bed, and felt the other boy lie behind him a few minutes later. He turned around, and pulled Frank to his chest. The other boy ended up resting his head on Gerard's arm with his face buried in his chest. They both fell asleep rather quickly. 

~~**~~

"Trick? Are you awake?" Pete asked the short boy who was lying next to him, with his eyes closed. It was three am, the night of the dance. Well, technically it was the next morning but whatever. 

Pete got no reaction from the other boy, and he sighed. He had woken up, because he had thought Patrick was having a nightmare, and now he wasn't going to get back to sleep again. He really needed Trick to sing him to sleep like he had done twice that day already, but that wasn't going to happen. 

"No...no...stop it," Patrick muttered. 

Oh fuck,  Pete thought,  I was right, he  is having a nightmare. 

Patrick started thrashing and kicked Pete in the shin. 

Fuck that hurt , he thought. He started shaking Patrick, who then jolted awake, sitting up and sobbing. 

"Trick, what's wrong?" Pete asked. 

"N-Nightmare. That's all," Patrick replied, sniffling and wiping his eyes. "I don't remember it was though, I never do," he sighed, falling backwards into lying down. He rolled on his side to face Pete and pulled his knees to his chest. 

"Okay, try and get back to sleep, you need it," Pete said, rubbing the other boy's arm. 

"Why were you awake? Did I hurt you? Oh shit I do that sometimes. I'm sorry if I did!" Patrick whispered. 

"You kicked my shin, but I was awake before that, it's okay," Pete assured him. 

"Why were you already awake?"

"I thought you were having a nightmare so I woke up. Then after a minute, you did."

"Oh, I'm sorry, you need sleep more than I do," Patrick said, sitting up and leaning his back against the headboard. 

"It's okay," Pete told him again. Patrick opened his arms to the other boy, who fell into them. Patrick slid down so they were laying down. He then ran his hands through Pete's wavy hair. 

Wait, wavy?  He thought. 

"Hey Pete, why's your hair wavy? It's usually really straight," he said. 

"I...I straighten my hair," he sighed. 

"Why?" Patrick asked. 

"It's usually pretty curly, I don't know I guess I just prefer it that way."

"You should leave it curly tomorrow, well, today," Patrick said. "I bet it'll be cute."

Pete sighed, "Ugh, no."

"Please?" Patrick said, pouting his lip. 

"Fuck you and your pouty lip," Pete said. Patrick turned on the puppy eyes and they both knew Pete was screwed. 

"I'll do it Sunday," Pete sighed, resting his head on Patrick's shoulder. 

"Yay, promise?" Patrick said, continuing to card his hands through the locks. Pete nodded then sighed, his entire body relaxing. He managed to fall asleep, Patrick not far behind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so posting on two websites is annoying at the same time so I'll be updating regularly on Wattpad and the Sunday after I update there is when I'll be updating here and spending more time on formatting and stuff (because that stuff bugs me). But now both places are caught up to the same chapter so that'll be starting this week.


	7. Patrick Stump is a Little Shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would've been up earlier but I had to make a fucking bridge out of motherfucking toothpicks for science class.

"Hey Gerard!" Frank said the next day when he saw his boyfriend walking past while they were outside. 

"Hey, what's up?" Gerard asked as Frank grabbed his hand and pulled him aside. 

"Okay, I have a plan," Frank told him. 

Gerard groaned, "Tell me gently."

"Shut up! It's a good plan!" Frank huffed. "Anyway, there's this diner about a five minute walk from here. I would go there all the time before coming here and I made pretty good friends with the owner. He's willing to close early so we can be alone at 7 tonight. I explained the whole thing about trying not to be too public because my dad, you know? But he knows my dad and understands completely."

"And he's not going to tell your dad?" Gerard asked. 

"Nope, it probably helps he's gay himself. But anyway, I'll meet you at your dorm at 7, dress kind of nice. Button down shirt and jeans should be good. A tie if you want," Frank said. 

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Gerard said leaning forward to kiss the other boy, rather forcefully.

Frank pulled back after a minute, "I need to go see a teacher about something, and help Patrick with History, but I'll see you tonight." He kissed his boyfriend once more before pulling away and waving as he jogged off. 

That night, Gerard was standing in his room, fiddling with his dark purple tie. He had opted to wear a blood red shirt and black skinny jeans with it. He borrowed Pete's black Doc Martens as well. 

There was a knock on the door, and Gerard took a deep breath. He opened it, and Frank was standing there wearing a navy blue shirt, black jeans, a black bow tie, and black converse. 

"Hey," Gerard said nervously. 

Frank chuckled, "Nervous?"

"Hell yes. Not even hell yes,  fuck  yes. I've never been on a date before so I'm kind of freaking out," Gerard confessed. 

"Aw, it'll be fine, it's just me," Frank said. "And we'll be the only ones in there anyway."

"True."

They walked outside after signing out in the main building and getting knowing looks from the secretary. As soon as they left the gates and were a little ways down the road, Frank took Gerard's hand in his. They made their way towards a small dinner called 'Quinn's'. Frank opened the door and held it open Gerard, being the "gentleman" he is. Gerard rolled his eyes and laughed, stepping into the restaurant. 

"Frankie!" A man yelled, grinning and coming back from the kitchen. 

"Hey dude!" Frank said, hugging the guy. "Gerard, this is my friend Kellin, he owns the place. Kellin, this is my boyfriend Gerard."

"Ah, you're the boyfriend," the guy, Kellin, said. "Nice to meet you."

"Uh yeah that's me," Gerard said scratching the back of his neck. 

"Hey Kellin!" A voice called from the kitchen. 

"What?" Kellin shouted back. 

"Are Frankie and Lover Boy here yet?" The voice shouted. 

"Yeah!" Kellin replied. There was a crash and then another guy appeared from the kitchen, face covered in flour. 

"Hey! You must be the boyfriend!" The man said. "I'm Vic, the other boyfriend. Kellin's boyfriend, not Frank's second boyfriend." 

Gerard laughed, "I'm Gerard, nice to meet you."

"You'll regret that phrase soon," Kellin said. 

Vic flipped him off before waving and returning to the kitchen. Kellin led them to a booth and gave them menus. "Drinks?"

"Water," Gerard told him. 

"Beer?" Frank asked, trying to look innocent. 

Kellin laughed, "You're sixteen, fuck no."

"Hey I'm seventeen!" Frank tried. 

"Yeah, sure. Your sixteenth birthday was yesterday. I'm. Not. Stupid." Kellin said. 

"Ugh fine, soda," Frank huffed causing Gerard to laugh. 

"Props Gerard, how do you put up with this?" Kellin asked. 

"Black magic," Gerard deadpanned. "I use it to be able to keep myself from murder." Kellin laughed, before disappearing to get their drinks. 

"So uh," Gerard muttered. "You've been here a lot, what looks good?"

"You," Frank replied instantly, earning himself a kick from Gerard under the table. "Okay, okay!" Frank laughed. "Uh I usually get salad and shit because I'm a vegetarian, but Vic makes good burgers, or so I've heard."

"Damn straight I do!" Vic yelled from the kitchen. "Sorry, damn gay." 

"Stop eavesdropping!" Frank whined. 

"No!" Vic and Kellin yelled in unison. 

"I hate them," Frank said. Gerard reached for his hand across the table, and reassuringly squeezed his hand. Frank laced their fingers together and gave Gerard a cute smile. 

"I'm assuming you want the usual Frank?" Kellin called, startling them. 

"Yeah! You could come take our order like a proper waiter!" Frank called back. 

"No! What does Loverboy want?" Vic yelled back. 

"Uh, burger!" Gerard yelled back. 

"Aye aye captain!" Vic screamed. 

"I'm starting to regret that statement..." Gerard whispered.

Frank laughed, "Yeah, they're always like this. Anyway, did I tell you what happened in Math with Pete?" Gerard shook his head. "Okay so the teacher's an old bat, and we decided to be little shits--"

He was cut off by Gerard's snort. "When are you not?"

"Mean! Anyway, she has like three hearing aids in each ear, so I asked her if I could go to the bathroom, but I mouth the last two words so I basically said, 'Can I go to'," Frank said before mouthing, 'the bathroom'. 

Gerard laughed, "Oh god, what did she do?"

"She thought her hearing aid broke so she left to fix it, and when she came back, Pete raised his hand, and mouthed his entire question. She left again, and then I started texting you and whining. She came back, again, took my phone and read the messages to the whole class outloud."

Gerard blushed, "Oh god, which conversation was this?"

"The one about whether or not Mikey and Ray would be fucking after school that day."

"Oh god that was so one-sided and I was telling you to stop," Gerard insisted. 

"Yeah but it was funny for her to read out loud," Frank said smirking. 

"Oh god shut up I don't want to relive that," Gerard groaned. 

Frank laughed and leaned across the table to kiss him. Gerard sighed happily and starting kissing back, before they heard a yelp. They pulled back to see Kellin dash into the kitchen. 

"Vic they're fucking on the table!" He screeched. 

"I kissed him! I didn't anally penetrate him!" Frank yelled back. Gerard blushed and fell forward, his forehead hitting the table with a thud. He sat up with a 'why me?' look on his face. Frank laced their fingers again as Kellin brought them their food. And one chocolate milkshake. With two straws. 

Frank groaned, and looked up at Kellin, "You're so cheesy," he told him. 

"Good," he said before returning to the kitchen. 

They ate in semi-awkward silence, before Gerard launched into a story about Mikey and a space heater. Frank was laughing too hard to eat and had to put his fork down so he didn't stab himself. 

"Wait, wait," he said between hysteric laughter, "Mikey tried to bring the  electric powered space heater  with him into the shower?"

"Yeah, he nearly died but it was so funny," Gerard said, emitting a high pitched giggle that made Frank nearly spit out the mouthful of milkshake he had just had. That caused both of them to laugh even harder, Frank having swallowed the drink as not to spit it on himself or Gerard. 

They finished their food and Frank tried to pay Kellin, who refused. "No way, I'm your wing man, it's on the house!" Kellin said as Vic nodded along. 

"Thanks man," Frank said. He took Gerard's hand and led him outside. They walked down the road towards the school hand in hand. "Hey Gee," Frank said. "I don't want to go back, but we have to."

"Why don't you want to go?" Gerard asked. 

"People keep calling Patrick a fag when he's away from Pete and Pete doesn't know cuz Patrick doesn't want him to worry. But I don't want that to happen, I'm not used to it, I can't handle that. Why are they all such douches? Why can't they just accept it?" Frank said, getting angrier and angrier. 

Gerard pulled the boy into a tight hug, and ran a hand through the boy's hair. He relaxed instantly and hugged Gerard back. 

"It'll be fine Frank," Gerard whispered. "If anyone says anything, show them what happens when they mess with you."

Frank chuckled against Gerard's shoulder. "Are you condoning violence, Mr. Way?" He asked. 

"I think I might be, Mr. Iero," Gerard whispered in his ear. 

"That was fucking sexy," Frank said. 

"Back away before you need to take a cold shower," Gerard said, pushing him away slightly. He wrapped an arm around Frank's waist and pulled the shorter boy's body towards his own. Frank stood on his toes and kissed Gerard's cheek, before sliding an arm around the middle of his back and resting his head on his shoulder. They walked through the gates, and

Gerard prepared for the other boy to let go, but he didn't. The redhead smiled down at his boyfriend, who smiled right back. 

The walked to their floor, and Frank sarcastically said, "Here, I'll walk you home."

Gerard laughed as they got to his door. He turned to face Frank and interlocked both his hands with the other boy's. He tugged Frank forward, and pressed their lips together. Frank sighed into the kiss, and pushed Gerard back against his door. He moved his hands to the taller boy's shoulders, as Gerard wrapped his arms against the other boy's waist. Frank had just started to deepen the kiss, when there was a shout of, "STOP FUCKING FRANK AGAINST THE DOOR!" from Ray from inside the dorm. 

Gerard pulled back and, panting, said, "STOP FUCKING MY BROTHER AND WE'LL COME IN AND NOT FUCK EACH OTHER!" Frank giggled, and Ray groaned. Gerard went to get his key from his pocket, but realized he didn't have it. "RAY CAN YOU PULL YOUR DICK OUT OF MY BROTHER'S ASS LONG ENOUGH TO LET ME IN? I DON'T HAVE MY KEY!" The door opened to reveal an annoyed Mikey. 

"Ray says remember your key in the future. Also, I top, thank you very much," the lanky boy deadpanned. Gerard and Frank laughed, before Gerard walked into the room, kissed the boy a final time, before Frank was walking back to his own dorm. 

"Am I going to have to blast music to ignore you two fucking?" Gerard asked. 

"Nah, I'm leaving," Mikey said. He kissed Ray and left. 

"Bye!" Ray and Gerard unisoned. Mikey waved and left. 

Gerard and Ray climbed into their separate beds, and fell asleep quickly. 

~~**~~

"Pete," Patrick drawled, drawing out the 'e'. "Wake uuuuup," he popped the 'p' and poked the other boy.

"Dkalakwpdndnaksje," Pete groaned into his pillow. 

"What language was that?" Patrick laughed. 

"Simlish, now let me sleep," Pete whined. 

"No, it's 11, wake up!" Patrick grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him out of the bed with a high pitched yelp from Pete as he crashed to the floor. 

"Ow!" Pete shrieked. He sat up and glared at Patrick. 

"Aw, poor Petey," Patrick said, sarcastically sticking his lip out. "Holy smokes, your hair is freaking curly as heck!" 

Pete laughed, "That was the most innocent sentence I've ever heard. Wait what, no!" Pete screeched running into the bathroom. 

"You promised you wouldn't straighten it!" Patrick shouted after him. 

"I lied!" Pete called back. "Where the fuck are my straighteners?"

"Hidden! So's your hair dryer, your hair brush, every comb in there, my hair brush, and the hair dryer provided by the school," Patrick said smirking. 

"Patrick! That's no fair!" Pete whined, leaving the bathroom, crossing his arms and pouting like a five year old. He looked like he was about to stomp his foot for emphasis, but didn't. 

"You promised, and besides, I know you, there's no way you would've gone through with it. Oh, I also hid all of your beanies, hoodies, and all of my hats as well," he said, smiling innocently. 

"Okay, that's a lot of shit, where did you hide all of this stuff?" 

"Not in here, that's for sure," Patrick said. "You look cute! And oh man, your eyeliner from yesterday, is like,  really  smudged." He laughed as Pete squeaked in horror and ran to the bathroom. 

"Why do all the bad things happen to me?" He shouted dramatically. Patrick walked into the entry of the bathroom and leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms. 

"You look cute, like a panda," Patrick giggled. 

"No. I look like a fucking raccoon!" Pete said as he desperately washed off the eyeliner, before reapplying it. 

"That your new nickname, Panda," Patrick smirked. Pete groaned. "Hey, it's revenge for Pat, Patty, Pattycakes, Rick, Rickster, Trick, Tricky, and Lunchbox, of all things," Patrick pointed out, counting each nickname on his fingers. "Where the heck did Lunchbox even come from?"

Pete shrugged, "It just kind of happened."

"Well come on, we need to go to breakfast," Patrick said. 

"I don't wanna!" Pete whined. 

"Too bad!" Patrick grabbed his boyfriend's hand and dragged him into the hallway. 

"No Trick! I don't wanna!" Pete shrieked. Mikey came around the corner and saw Pete's curly hair. 

"Holy fuck," Mikey gasped. "Pete? You're in public with your hair curly?"

"Yes now fuck you!" Pete shrieked. "Lunchbox, I want my straighteners! Or at least like a beanie or something!"

"Nope, you promised and you're gonna keep that promise," Patrick said sternly. 

"Damn," Mikey muttered, "Remind me not to get on Patrick's bad side."

The three of the walked down to the dining hall, and the closer they got, the more frantic Pete became. "Please let me go back to our dorm! I'll do anything! Please Trick! Tricky! Please!" He begged. 

"Nope, promises are promises," Patrick said smirking. 

"At least give me a hat or something. A hoodie,  anything ," Pete begged. "Mikey, my man, please give me your beanie." 

"Nah," Mikey said, shrugging and opening the door to the dining hall. Pete yelped, and covered his hair with his arms. 

Patrick rolled his eyes and started to walk to their usual table, in the back corner. Usually, they went in the back door that was right next to their table, but today, they went in the front one where everyone would see them. Pete ran towards the table, arms over his head. Patrick and Mikey followed him and laughed. 

"Patrick," Gerard asked upon their arrival to the table, "Did you fuck him yesterday? Because there is no way that Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz the mother fucking third would ever let you convince him to keep his hair curly without the promise of sex."

"No! He didn't!" Pete said, face buried in the table with his arms over the back of his head. "Patrick Vaughn Stump is just cruel!"

"Are we on like a full name basis or something?" Frank asked. 

"Yes, Frank Anthony Iero," Ray said. 

"Okay then Raymond...whatever the fuck your middle name is Toro," Frank said back. 

"It's Manuel, I think," Mikey said. 

"Michael James Way!" Ray shrieked. "Don't tell him!" 

"Haha!" Gerard said. 

"Shut up, Jared!" Ray snapped. 

"Not cool!" Gerard said throwing a spoon at Ray. 

"Gerard Arthur Way!" Bob gasped. "Don't make me call your mother!"

"Go right ahead Robert Nathaniel Cory Bryar," Gerard smirked. 

Bob gasped, "HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW THAT?" He screamed. 

Gerard just pointed at Frank, who cowered in fear. "Hey! No fair!" Frank whined. 

Gerard laughed and kissed Frank's cheek. "Anyway," Gerard continued. "Before that whole middle name fight, I asked a semi-serious question; how'd you convince him to keep it curly?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at Patrick. 

"It was like three am, his hair was wavy, he told me it was naturally curly and I made him promise me to keep it curly today," Patrick said. 

Frank laughed, "And since you're you, you will force people to keep promises, so let me guess, you hid his straighteners?"

Patrick nodded and Pete finally sat up. "He took my straighteners, hair dryer, the school hair dryer, my hair brush, my comb, his comb, my hoodies, my beanies, and all of his hats, and hid them in the room of one of you little traitors," Pete said. He glared at all of them and Mikey laughed. "MIKEY WAS IT YOU? DID YOU BETRAY ME?" Pete shouted standing up and pointing an accusing finger at Mikey. 

"Nope, but I know where they are," Mikey smirked. 

Pete groaned and buried his head in his arms on the table again. 

"Pete you need to get over it," Patrick said. "You look adorable!" He kissed the back of Pete's head that was sticking up, and locked their hands together under the table. 

"Mekalaoejen analwmd," Pete groaned against the mahogany table. 

"Again, not a language," Patrick said. 

"It's Simlish," Gerard told them all. 

"Ha!" Pete said, sitting up and looking right at Patrick, "Gerard agrees!" He leaned across the table and high fived Gerard. 

"You're both dorks," Frank and Patrick said in unison, before high-fiving each other. 

"Your dorks!" Pete and Gerard said at the same time. 

"I'm gonna puke," Mikey, Ray, and Bob somehow managed to say at the same time. 

"You're just jealous!" Frank said, and turning to press his lips to Gerard's forcefully. Gerard made a sound of surprise, before kissing back in earnest. 

"EW!" Ray screamed, before throwing random things at him. They didn't stop making out until Frank got hit in the ear with a fork. 

"Ow! That's dangerous!" He shrieked, checking for blood. 

Gerard rolled his eyes and turned to Bob, who was next to him, and said, "In other news--" before getting cut off by the blonde pressing a pancake into his face. "Bob!" He squeaked. The blonde guffawed, nearly falling off the bench he was sitting on. 

They were having fun, until a few of Pete's teammates, football players, and a few cheerleaders approached them. "Hey look! It's Fatrick!" One of the cheerleaders said. The group of five populars laughed at this. 

"Don't you mean Fagtrick?" One of Pete's teammates laughed. 

"Fuck off Mike!" Pete screeched, sitting straight up. 

"Pete if you attack him you can't play in the finals game Friday," Patrick warned. Thanks to Pete, the team had won their past two playoff games and we're now in the championship game that was scheduled for their school on Friday. 

Pete slumped down in defeat. The guy, Mike, spoke up again, "Yeah Pete, listen to your boy toy." Pete growled at him and tried to stand up, but Patrick pulled him down again. 

"Leave them alone," Frank said calmly. 

"Faggy Iero!" Another boy yelled. "How's the dick up your ass, eh?" He asked smirking. 

Frank just shrugged nonchalantly, before launching himself off the bench and tackling the boy. He straddled him, and delivered punch after punch to the boy's face. Everyone was too stunned to do anything until one jock rushed forward and threw Frank off the boy. Jock Number 2 pushed Frank against a wall and punched him. Gerard flew out of his seat and pulled Jock Number 2 away from Frank, throwing him to the ground. The tallest guy tried to get to Gerard, but Ray got to him first and sucker punched him. One of the guys dragged Mikey off the bench, and Patrick stood up. He jumped up onto the table, then leaped off the other side, and tackled the guy off Mikey. The guy rolled, knocking off Patrick's fedora, and grabbed Patrick's hair, slamming his head into the concrete wall. Pete and Bob got up to do something, but Elton and the Headmaster came running over with a few other teachers attempting to pry the boys off each other. They finally got them off each other and separated them all. Elton crouched next to Patrick and started to check him for a concussion, and they realized he was unconscious. Pete tried to run to him, but a teacher got the wrong idea, and held Pete back. The boy struggled, screaming and kicking the whole time. 

"HELL FUCKING NO LET GO OF ME I NEED TO SEE IF HE'S OKAY!" Pete shrieked. 

"Give him to me," Elton said, grabbing Pete's arm. "Look Pete, he's not dead," Elton told him, taking the boy's hand and placing it on his boyfriend's chest. His chest was rising up and down, but slowly. Pete sighed in relief, and Elton released his arm. Pete got a surge of anger, and leaped at the boy who hurt Patrick. He knocked said boy out of the teacher's grasp and starting to beat him relentlessly. 

He got about four punches and a scream of, "I'M GOING TO FUCKING HOSPITALIZE YOU!" before three teachers had to pull him back. 

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" The headmaster screamed in the now silent dining hall. "ALL OF YOU, MY OFFICE, NOW!" He had all 12 teachers that were restraining everyone lead them out of the dining hall. The nurse had come in with a stretcher, and she and Elton places Patrick on it and took him to the infirmary. 

They arrived at the main office and they took everyone but the boy's on the soccer team into the headmaster's office. After half an hour, Frank left, mouthing that they all had three weeks detention at Pete, before leaving the room altogether. 

"The rest of you, enter," the headmaster called. They walked in and the only two people in their were Elton and the headmaster himself. "Elton here witnessed everything and had helped me decide your punishments," the headmaster explained. "Now, you three," he gestured to the jocks beside Pete, "provoked and insulted Mr. Stump, Mr Wentz, and Mr. Iero. Homophobia is  not  accepted here,  at all.  Since you insulted those three, knocked Mr. Stump unconscious, and beat a few of the other boys, you will receive a month detention. However, as our school has managed to get into the finals game in a few weeks time, I will not be suspending you from the soccer game. But, since I'm being generous with that, you will need to help and do community service around the school for a week, on top of your detentions. No arguments, dismissed. Mr. Wentz, we will discuss your punishment privately. The rest of you, out." 

The boy's left the office, leaving Pete alone with Elton and the headmaster. Elton crouched in front of him and spoke somewhat quietly. "Pete, we both understand you have bipolar disorder and take medication for it. Did you take it this morning?" He asked gently. Pete felt like a child; small, young, and stupid.

He shook his head slightly, looking down at his lap. He stuck his hands on the chair and slide them under his knees, biting his lip. "I-I forgot," he whispered. 

Elton sighed, "Pete, you can't forget."

"I know," he muttered. 

"Okay Pete, that's no excuse for this, but since you didn't do nearly as much as those other three," the headmaster said, "I'll let you off a bit easy, two weeks detention." Pete sighed in relief. "But," the headmaster continued, "You need to take your medication every morning. For the next three days, the nurse will have your dosages. You must go to her and to take them. She will tell me if you did or not. After those three days, Mr. Stump will have left the infirmary. He will be monitoring your taking of your medication, and be reporting to Elton here. Also, for the next week, possibly longer, you will be seeing and speaking with the school psychiatrist. That will start directly after school tomorrow, it will be just you and her, in the office next to mine. We can keep that private if you wish." Pete nodded. He really didn't want anyone to know that. He'd always insisted he was alright and didn't need a professional and telling people he did would be him admitting defeat. "Alright, that's what we'll do," the headmaster told him. "Now I bet you're dying to see Mr. Stump right about now. We won't allow visitors, as they will get in the nurse's way--" Pete cut him of, starting to protest, but the headmaster held up a hand, silencing him. "--but we'll allow you to go as you have a certain, relation, to Mr. Stump." Pete blushed and looked down as Elton chuckled. "Also, while you're there, the nurse will be giving you your medication." Pete nodded, and they dismissed him. He calmly walked out of the office. He made it outside the building, before sprinting to the medical building. Pete ran towards the wing the infirmary was in, and saw all his friends, including Ryan, Brendon, Andy, and Joe sitting in the hallway. The ones who had been injured in the fight had ice pack and bandages, and Gerard was sitting on the ground elevating his knee with a pillow. The jocks left the main infirmary room and walked off. 

"The nurse put us out here so she could easily focus on Patrick," Frank said pinching his nose that had just stopped bleeding. 

"Is he okay?" Pete asked frantically. 

"She won't let us in," Brendon said from where he was resting his head on Ryan's shoulder. "So we're gonna wait here until we can go in." 

"Oh okay," Pete said, moving towards the door. 

"It's locked dude," Mikey told him, "She won't let  anyone  in." 

"Uh huh," Pete said, knocking on the door. 

"For the last time boys! Not now! You can see him later!" The nurse shouted. She was nice, but all of them were stubborn and had undoubtedly harassed her to let them in. 

"Uh, it's Pete Wentz, the headmaster told me I could come," Pete said. 

The door opened, to the surprise of everyone. Pete turned to them and said, "I have something to take care of, not having to do with Patrick. I explain soon I promise," before walking into the room. 

"Here," the nurse said, gesturing to a small cup with two pills and a glass of water. Pete downed the pills and water, before handing her the cups. "You can stay for five minutes. He isn't awake yet, but will be soon. I think he has a mild concussion and he broke his wrist when he fell. Can you send your injured friend in when you leave?"

"Sure," Pete said, before kneeling next to Patrick's bed. "How long should the concussion last?"

"Middle of December, probably. He'll be able to perform at the Holiday Concert the week after that if he wants. For the next week, you need to make sure he doesn't read, write, text, draw, watch tv, use a laptop, etc. Anything close up that can strain his eyes. He can listened to things and talk on a phone but that's it. Also, you'll need to break it to him he can't use any instruments for the next week as well. Also, singing and loud noises should be avoided for him. Bright lights as well. If he had headaches, tell him to lie down. He'll be dismissed from class and come here if he has headaches. He may get nauseous. I'm telling you this as you're his roommate and boyfriend and spend the most time with him, I'm assuming," the nurse said. Pete nodded. "Okay, four minutes," she told him before pulling the curtains around the bed shut. 

"Hey Trick," Pete whispered, pushing some of the strawberry blonde colored bangs away from the boy's face. There was no reaction, obviously. Pete kissed the boy's forehead gently. "I hope you get better. It'll be tough when you wake up, but I'll help you, I promise." He kissed Patrick's pale cheek, before leaving. 

He walked out of the room, and everyone but Andy and Ryan instantly bombarded him with questions. Pete explained what happened with the meds and the new plan. They all nodded sympathetically. Mikey tapped his wrist, which was their code of: 'Did you do anything self harm wise?' Pete shook his head and Mikey smile at him reassuringly. "The nurse wants you guys who were in the fight in there." He said and led them in. Gerard had to be half carried by Mikey and Frank, but he made it in. They led him to a bed and the nurse helped him out. She tested his knee, and told him he sprained it and would need crutches. She gave him some and had him test them, before wrapping his knee. She tended to the wounds of the rest of them, before they heard a groan from behind the curtain. 

"Ah Mr. Stump!" The nurse said, rushing to pull the curtain back. "You're awake." Patrick tried to sit up but she told him not to. His eyes were still closed, because of the bright lights probably, and he groaned, before flopping backwards onto the pillow. 

"Hey Tricky," Pete said. The nurse dimmed the lights a lot, and Patrick finally opened his eyes. Well, one of them, as the other was swollen shut from when the dude he tackled elbowed him when he flipped them over. 

"Hey, hey Pete," he said. 

"Ah okay, so no memory problems it seems," the nurse said. 

"I don't remember getting here," Patrick said. 

"You were unconscious," she told him. 

"Oh," he said. He started coughing and she passed him a cup of water, which he nearly dropped. Pete rushed over, and helped him drink some of it. 

"Mr. Wentz, please tell Mr. Stump what I told you while I finish with these guys." Pete nodded, and told Patrick what the nurse told him. He groaned at the no music part. 

"I know dude, don't worry, you can tell me lyrics and I'll write them down so we can finish the song if you want," Pete suggested. Patrick nodded, before curling up against the pillow and yawning. Pete kissed his head and whispered, "Get some sleep," to which Patrick nodded, and drifted off, snoring slightly. 

"Okay, you're all fine now, let's let Mr. Stump rest here for now and stay the night. He'll be able to return to his room tomorrow, as the concussion isn't as bad as I originally thought," the nurse said. She handed Pete Patrick's phone, jacket, shoes, and fedora that he had when getting there. They all nodded and left the room. Once they made it back to the hallway, they explained what happened to Joe, Andy, Brendon, and Ryan. It was only about 2 o'clock, but Pete retreated back to his dorm. 

Gerard attempted to hobble to the art classroom of his (second) favorite teacher, but was horrible on crutches, and nearly fell. Frank laughed, hurting his split lip, and decided to go with him so he didn't hurt himself. "Where're you heading?" Frank asked. 

"Art room," Gerard told him, "I want to get work done on my project."

"Okay cool, I'll help you so you don't have to walk around in the classroom too much," Frank up. 

"Thanks," Gerard said, attempting to use crutches. "Fuck these things," he groaned. 

Frank laughed, "Want me to give you a piggy back ride?"

"Yes, you may have been kidding but  please do, " Gerard said. Frank squatted little, and Gerard hopped on his back. He wrapped an arm around Frank's chest, and held the crutches off one side. "I'm surprised this works since you're like five inches shorter than me."

"I can drop you," Frank said. 

"No no that's okay!"  Gerard rushed. 

"I'm not oookkkaaay!" Frank sang. Gerard smacked the top of his head. "Ow!" He laughed. They made it to the art building, and Gerard hopped off, before leading Frank to his drawing and painting class.  They arrived and the teacher smiled at Gerard, before noticing his crutches. 

"What happened?" She asked. They told her about the fight, and she nodded sympathetically. 

"Frank's gonna help me out  and get stuff for me," Gerard said. 

"Ooh, so this is Frank," she teased. 

"Miss!" Gerard whined. She laughed and walked back to her desk. "Frankie can you get me red, black, and white paint, a brush, water bucket, paint brushes, and a pallet please?" Gerard asked. Frank nodded and went to search for all of that stuff. Gerard got up and hopped on one foot over to the drying rack to get his painting. The canvas was pretty big, and he nearly fell trying to get back to his table with it. Frank came back and put everything on one side of his desk, as they attempted to raise the top of the other section. They finally got it and Gerard set up his canvas and started painting some pre-drawn lines he had. He made Frank sit on the other side so he couldn't see the canvas. He got about half done two hours later, and went to put the painting back without Frank seeing it. Frank whined that he wanted to see it and Gerard told him it was a surprise. Frank put all of the stuff away, they said goodbye to the teacher, and left. Gerard hopped back onto Frank's back and he carried him back to his dorm. 

"You're too tall for this," Frank panted once they were outside the dorm. "Have Mikey do it, he's taller than me."

"Good idea!" Gerard agreed. 

"Or you could, oh I don't know, learn to use your crutches?" Frank supplied. 

"Nah, too much work. Speaking of work I have to go study for science, I'll see you later," Gerard said, leaning forward to kiss his boyfriend while attempting to my fall on his crutches. Frank laughed and broke the kiss, before waving and walking off. 

Gerard walked in, and saw Mikey and Ray making out shirtless on Ray's bed. Gerard yelped, backed out of the room, and slammed the door. He heard scrambling around and Mikey opened the door, looking a sheepish. 

"Can't you fuck in Mikey's room?" Gerard groaned, "he doesn't have a roommate!" 

"True," Ray said. He and Mikey ran out of the room and down the stairs, giggling. 

"I DIDN'T MEAN RIGHT NOW!" Gerard shouted after them. He went into his room and slammed the door shut. 

~~**~~

After school the Monday before Thanksgiving, nearly a week since Pete and Patrick got together, Pete was attempting to help Patrick with his school work since he still couldn't read or write for the time being. 

"Okay math, done," Pete said, throwing the textbook. 

"French time," Patrick said, passing his notes to the other boy. 

"Uh, this should be fun. I take Spanish, so I know nothing," Pete told him. 

"Just attempt to read what's there, it should be fine," Patrick said. ’

"Okay but how the hell are you a sophomore in French four?" Pete asked. 

"Il parle le Français couramment," Patrick said. 

"The hell was that?" Pete asked. 

"I said, 'I speak French fluently'," Patrick told him. 

"Oh, well no comprende," Pete said. 

"Tú debe dejar que te enseñe Francés," Patrick said. 

"What?" Pete asked looking extremely lost. 

"Oh come on Pete! That was Spanish!" Patrick said. 

"You speak Spanish too?" Pete huffed. 

"Sí, con fluidez," Patrick said, nodding. 

"Uh...'yes, ....fluently'?" Pete asked. 

"Oui," Patrick said. 

"STOP SWITCHING LANGUAGES!" Pete said, swatting the other boy's arm with the papers. Patrick giggled, and gestured for Pete to read the first question. "Okay answer the English question in French: What are the words for my boyfriend and my girlfriend?" 

"Mon petit-ami is boyfriend and ma petite-amie is girlfriend," Patrick said, spelling out each word. 

"What does, 'mon petit ami est tres mignon' mean?" Pete asked, butchering the words. 

Patrick giggled, "It's mon petit ami est tres mignon," Patrick said pronouncing each syllable perfectly. "And it means 'My boyfriend is very cute'." 

"Well the paper is right because he is," Pete said, smirking as he wrote. 

"Mon petit ami est un ballot," Patrick said. 

"Does that mean 'my boyfriend is super sexy'?" Pete asked smirking. 

"It means 'my boyfriend is a nerd'," Patrick said. 

"You're mean," Pete pouted. Patrick rolled his eyes, and leaned forward to kiss the pout. 

He pulled back and said, "Fine, mon petit ami est tres mignon." 

"You bet he is!" Pete said. 

"Not talking about you Peter," Patrick sassed. 

"Oh dear, this other guy, is he stronger than me?" 

"Nah," Patrick said shrugging. "He's a dorky little emo with too much eyeliner."

"Brendon?"

"Yes, Brendon and I are having an affair behind your's and Ryan's backs."

"Same with me and Ryan," Pete deadpanned. 

"Weird, so do we all just have a giant polyamorous orgy now?" Patrick asked. 

"Ew no!" Pete laughed. Patrick giggled and just shook his head. 

"T’es un idiot complèt," Patrick muttered. 

"Hey! I heard the word idiot!" Pete said. 

"You're right, I said, 'You're a complete idiot," Patrick told him. 

"Mean, you hate me," Pete pouted. 

"Non, je t'aime," Patrick whispered. 

"What was that?" Pete asked. 

"Uh...nothing," Patrick said blushing. 

"Because I may not know French," Pete said, moving so he was directly in front of Patrick. "But I do know how to say the words 'I love you' in seven languages, French included."

"Oh uh um well...I-I might, it's just, it's been less than a month. That's-that's not a lot of time to fall in love and--" Patrick stuttered before Pete cut him off by kissing him. 

"Yo también te quiero," Pete whispered when he pulled back. 

"Oh..." Patrick said, before blushing. 

"Volim te, te amo, ti amo, te amo, je t'aime, te iubesc, I love you," Pete said. 

"You said te amo twice," Patrick blurted out. 

Pete laughed, "One's Spanish the other is Latin, exact same words so it's easy to remember."

"What were the other languages?" Patrick asked. 

"Croatian, Spanish, Italian, Latin, French, Romanian, and English," Pete said. "Seven ways to say the same thing, 'I love you'. I do, I love you Patrick," Pete said, looking right into his eyes. 

"I-I love you too," Patrick said. "That sounded like a lie because I stuttered but it's not!" He rushed. 

Pete laughed, "No that's okay! Don't worry, I figured." 

"Okay good," Patrick giggled, then winced. 

"What's wrong?" Pete asked, automatically going into overprotective mode. 

"My head hurts a little," Patrick muttered. 

"Well you have a concussion," Pete said. "You need to sleep the nurse said. Lay down." 

Patrick took off his glasses got under the blankets on his bed, and Pete shut the lights off. He then climbed into the bed with Patrick, and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy's waist. "Pete," he whined, looking up at Pete, "my head hurts."

"I know," Pete said, leaning forward and kissing his forehead. He starting running his fingers through Patrick's hair, and the other boy relaxed. He fell asleep, really early, and didn't wake up until the next morning. 


	8. Patrick Stump's Mother is Also A Little Shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9 is currently being written. Should be up (and maybe another after it) next Sunday!

"Okay Mr. Stump, it seems your concussion isn't going to affect you anymore, so you can resume all your activities. Just, be careful," the nurse told Patrick on Wednesday, the last day of school before Thanksgiving, the next day. 

"Yay! Awesome!" Patrick cheered. He left the room shortly after, and headed to lunch. 

"Pete calm down!" He heard Mikey say. 

"Fuck no!" Pete said. "The finals are tonight, I'm freaking the fuck out! This is the first time  ever that we've made it to the finals. That's so much freaking pressure!" He was tugging at his hair. 

"Hey dude," Frank said, "it's okay, you'll do fine!" 

Patrick sat next to Pete and wrapped his arms around him. "Trick--" he sighed. 

"No," Patrick cut him off. 

"Let go," Pete asked. 

"No, get out of your head," Patrick told him. 

"Fine, done, let go please," Pete begged. Patrick let go, finally. 

"Dude, even if we lose, you guys did awesome!" Gerard said. 

"Gee, stop talking about it," Frank warned. 

"Oh, yeah. Right, sorry," Gerard said sheepishly. 

"It's fine," Pete said.

"Well, in other news, my concussion is mainly gone," Patrick said, attempting to change the subject. 

"And I no longer need crutches," Gerard said. 

"Yay! We're all fine! Well, physically," Ray said. 

"Good point, Fro Fro," Frank said. 

"Oh, and I finished the lyrics to our first," Gerard said. 

"Oh yeah, we finished our parts too!" Frank said. 

"Oh sweet! Since we haven't got school today cuz Thanksgiving tomorrow and shit, let's go see if we can use the music room," Mikey said. They all nodded and headed off. 

"Come on Trick," Pete said, "let's go finish the lyrics." Patrick nodded and they went in the opposite direction as everyone else. 

"So Gerard," Mikey said as they entered the practice room, "have you started the next song?" 

"Nah, not yet," Gerard admitted, setting up a microphone. "I will soon though." They all nodded, and Bob counted them in. They played the song through all of the way, and it sounded great. 

"Woah guys," Bob said, "we sound like an actual band." They all nodded in agreement. "Cool."

"Hey Frank," Gerard said as they were leaving the practice room a few minutes later. "What were we planning for tonight after the game?"

"Oh yeah, I called Kellin," Frank started, "and if we win, me, you, Pete, Trick, Ray, Mikey, Bob, Brendon, Ryan, Andy, Joe, Ashlee, Lindsey, and Elisa are gonna go out to his diner. The team might other people might but those are the definites and it's only if we win."

"Ah, okay," Gerard said. "What about Ashlee's boyfriend?"

"She dumped him a week ago," Frank said. 

"Why?"

"He had said we deserved what those guys did to us, she smacked him," Frank said, grinning. 

"Ashlee is amazing," Gerard laughed. 

"She really is," Frank agreed. 

"Ray's going to Mikey's room again, you should come to mine," Gerard said. 

"Gladly."

"Okay good, I need help with writing lyrics," Gerard said. 

"Of course that's why you want me over," Frank said. 

"There may be more in it for you," Gerard said. 

"Ooh, I hope so," Frank said suggestively. 

"Oh my god you need to stop," Gerard told him, laughing. 

~~**~~ 

"Pete stop pacing," Patrick said, without even having to look up from his book. "Pete. Stop. Pacing. You'll. Do. Fine."

"Uh huh, okay," Pete muttered. 

Patrick rolled his eyes, got up and walked right up to Pete. He cupped both sides of the taller boy's face in his hands, leaned forward, and kissed him. Hard. Pete gasped in surprise, his mouth opening. Patrick took this opportunity to deepen the kiss, which he had never done before with anyone and was kind of nervous about. Pete got over his shock, and wrapped his arms around Patrick's waist, pulling the shorter boy closer. The latter moved his hands from the brunettes face to around his neck. One of his hands slid into the other boy's hair, and gently gripped it. 

Patrick broke the kiss first, and pulled back slightly, breathing heavily. Pete rested his forehead against the shorter boy's, and his eyes were still closed. 

"What-What even was that?" Pete asked. 

"It got you to stop pacing," Patrick said. 

"I may pace more if it leads to that," Pete told him, chuckling and finally opening his eyes. 

"I won't do that again if you keep pacing," Patrick said. 

"Fine I guess I'll stop," Pete sighed dramatically. Patrick giggled and pulled away, adjusting his glasses. He flopped onto Pete's bed, picking his notebook back up. 

"Help me write please," he whined, pouting. 

"Fine," Pete said. He walked over to his bed, and sat behind Patrick, who leaned his back against the brunette's chest. Pete wrapped his arms around Patrick's waist and rested his chin on the other's shoulder. 

"Okay, so for the next line we could--" Patrick started before getting cut off by his phone ringing. "Ugh! What?" He shrieked, before grabbing his phone off the bedside table. "Hello? Oh hey Mom!" he said, relaxing back into Pete's chest more. "Yeah school's good...M-Mom!" He said, blushing. "D-Do I have a boyfriend yet? Uh..." He trailed off looking up at Pete and raising an eyebrow, silently asking if he could tell her. 

Pete nodded, and shouted loud enough for her to hopefully hear, "Damn right you have a boyfriend!" 

"Was that him?" Patrick's mom asked from over the phone. 

"Yeah, that's him," Patrick said, chuckling. 

"Put her on speaker!" Pete whined. 

"Hell no! You are not talking to my mother on the phone!" Patrick huffed. 

"Pllllllleeeeeease!" Pete whined. 

"Ugh fine! Mom, you're going on speaker cuz my idiot boyfriend wants to talk to you," Patrick sighed. 

"Hello?" A woman's voice called from over the line. 

"Hello! You must be Mrs. Stump! I'm Pete," Pete said. 

"Oh no need to be so formal, call me Patricia or Patty," she said. 

"Ohhh! Is that why you hate when Bob calls you Patty?" Pete asked Patrick. 

"Yes! It's a girl's name!" Patrick huffed. 

"Aw poor Tricky," Pete said. 

"'Tricky!' That's too cute!" His mom practically squealed. 

"Mom!" Patrick said, blushing. 

His mother laughed from the other line, "Sorry, anyway, what's this boy like? He better treat you right!" 

"He does, don't worry!" Pete said. 

"Says you," Patrick grumbled. 

"Hey! That's mean!" Pete pouted. 

"Anyway," Patrick continued, "This dork is named Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz the Third, hates that I keep using his full name so I do it anyway, uhh...he plays bass, he...is a nerd, likes puns too much, tries to be emo, failed at that, uhh oh he wears a lot of eyeliner. Like  a lot. Uh...brown hair that he straightens, brown eyes, tannish skin...I'm bad describing people."

"Have you got a picture?" His mom asked. 

"Too many pictures!" Patrick whined. "He's a selfie addict and likes to use my phone to do it."

"Well I can't clog up my camera roll with my face! So I use yours because apparently you like my face," Pete said. 

"Ooh, text me a picture! I want to see your first boyfriend!" His mom begged. 

"Mom!" Patrick huffed, blushing even more. 

"I'm your first boyfriend?" Pete asked smirking. 

"I vous déteste tous les deux," Patrick said. 

"Stop muttering in French!" Pete and Patricia said in unison. 

"Never!" Patrick said. "Besides, I'll just said it in English, I hate you both."

"No need to be mean! Now send the picture!" Patricia told him. He rolled his eyes, before sending it while still on the phone with her. 

"It's sent," Patrick sighed. 

"Aw! You're so cute together!" She cooed. 

"Mom!" Patrick whined again. 

"Oh hush! Oh wait! Penny! Come here Penny!" His mom called. Patrick's eyes lit up and he smiled like a kid on Christmas. 

"Penny?" Pete asked. 

"My dog!" Patrick explained. There was a high pitched bark from the other line. "Hi Penny!" Patrick squealed. Another bark followed, and he giggled. 

"That's adorable," Pete said. Patrick smacked his arm lightly. "What kind of dog is she?"

"A Pomeranian," Patrick said. "Don't you have a dog?"

"Yeah, Hemingway, he's a bulldog," Pete said. 

"You named your dog after an author?" 

"Hell yeah! I love Hemingway."

"Not what I would've expected. I would've thought you'd name him Fido or something."

"Hey! I can be creative!" Pete whined. 

"Oh god! Penny drop it!" Patrick's mother said. 

"What does she have?" Patrick demanded, concern clear on his face. 

"Your BINGO hat," his mother said. "She...she ripped it. A lot."

Patrick groaned, "Oh man! Penny!" 

"She looks super guilty," his mother said. "Anyway, I need to go take her for her walk, bye sweetie! Bye Pete! Oh! Ask him and everyone else about Christmas!"

"Bye mom!" Patrick called. 

"Bye Mrs.--uh bye Pat!" Pete said. Patrick hung up, and threw the phone across the room where it landed on his bed. "So what's a bingo hat?" Pete asked him. 

Patrick flipped himself over and buried his face into the pillow next to Pete. "Nothing you need to know," he said into the pillow. 

"And what about Christmas?" Pete questioned, lying next to him. 

Patrick took his face out of the pillow and rolled into his back. "Every Christmas break, Frank comes and stays with us the whole time. Bob and Ray would come for most of the time, but leave on Christmas Eve. So you can come this year if you want and stay as long as you want. Same with Mikey and Gerard."

"I should be able to, I'd have to ask my mom. I'll ask her visitor's day. That's the week after Thanksgiving right?" Patrick nodded. Visitor's day was when the parents and siblings of students could come and visit the campus and the parents could talk with teachers if they wished. 

"Okay, I'll let my mom know. Oh god she's gonna want to meet you Visitor's Day oh goodness," Patrick said. 

"Is that bad?"

"It'll basically be what happened on the phone, except she'll  gush over you ," Patrick said. "Don't get me wrong, I love my mom, but...she can embarrass people a lot. Mainly me and my half sister."

"You have a sister?" 

"Oh...yeah Hayley. I think you met her. She's in our music class."

"Hayley Williams? Cuz her and I threw shit at these bitchy girls--"

"Is that why my mom called me and told me to not let her hang out with you?" Patrick asked, wide eyed. He burst out laughing, and sat up, moving to face Pete and sitting with his legs crossed under him, before continuing. "Oh man when she pieces together that you're the same Pete Wentz--" he cut himself off, laughing at Pete's look of horror. "She'll probably just threaten you then welcome you to the family."

"What has she done in the past?" Pete asked. 

"You-you're my first boyfriend. She told you that," Patrick said, blushing. 

"I know, but I'd just assumed you'd had a girlfriend. Not sure why, I don't even know your sexuality. What even is it?" 

"Gay. As hell. So you're my first relationship. Ever."

"I'm honored," Pete joked, sitting up and mirroring the way Patrick was sitting. Patrick slapped his chest jokingly, before taking one of his hands into both of his. He turned it so it was palm up, and starting tracing patterns into it. Pete winced, and pulled his hand back roughly. Patrick looked up at him with confusion clearly written on his face. 

"What's wrong?" He asked. "That couldn't have hurt, could it?"

"No it didn't hurt, but uh...it used to. I told you I used to self harm right?" Pete asked, staring at his lap, and flicking his eyes up to see Patrick nod briefly. "Well I used to...cut and burn my palm and fingers. On both hands. And...and my wrists. It would really hurt to have anyone touch them. Not anymore though, but I was just so used to basically never let anyone touch my hands. I've been alright holding hands but having you stare at them freaked me out. It's fine though." He held out his hand to Patrick who took it, and scooted so his knees were brushing against Pete's. He raised Pete's palm towards his eyes, and bent his head. He could clearly see the small scars, and not so small scars littering Pete’s palm and the skin of his inner wrist. He pulled Pete’s palm closer and pressed his lips to one of the larger scars. Pet looked at him, completely shocked. Patrick kept pressing feather light kisses to each scar and faded burn on his palm before moving to his fingers and then going up to his wrist. Patrick looked up once he had kissed the last scar, an isolated one near Pete’s elbow, and saw that the brunette was nearly crying. He sniffled, trying to stop the tears but the came anyway, silently streaming down his face as his whole body shook. He wiped his eyes, smudging his eyeliner, but he didn’t care. Patrick pulled Pete closer to him, and engulfed the crying teen into a hug.

"Thanks Tricky," Pete whispered, burying his head into the other boy's chest. "That meant so much to me."

"Good, I'm glad," Patrick said. 

"I love you Tricky. I know you get nervous saying it so don't worry, I'll probably say it a lot, but you don't have to reply okay?" 

"Okay, thank you," Patrick said. "Are you okay now?" 

"Yeah, yeah I'm good," Pete said, pulling away and wiping his eyes. 

"I'm glad. Panda," he giggled. 

Pete laughed, "I actually kind of like that nickname."

"Good cuz it's staying. Now then, do you wanna come with me to ask them if they can come?" Patrick asked. Pete nodded. Patrick went and got his phone, then sent a group text to everyone. 

TO: All the Emos

Hey guys, can we meet somewhere in like five minutes? I have to tell you guys something 

FROM: Frank Ier-no 

UR PREGGERS RNT U? 

TO: All the Emos

NO IM NOT PREGNANT THIS ISNT A FANFICTION FRANK

FROM: Gerard Gay 

Ignore him. And sure, come to mine and rays. Mikey and that demon are here already. 

TO: All the Emos

Cool. Bob? 

FROM: Bobert

Already heading over 

FROM: Petey <3 

Aren't you gonna ask if I'm free? 

TO: All the Emos 

YOURE LITERALLY NEXT TO ME SO NO

FROM: Petey <3

Rude 

Patrick looked up from his phone to glare at Pete. Pete ran by, grabbed his fedora, put it on his own head, and ran out the door. "Pete!" Patrick shouted, running after the boy. He ran up the stairs, and nearly tripped on the top step, which set him off laughing. He almost made it to Gerard's room, but Patrick tackled him right outside the door. He straddled Pete, and grabbed his hat, before kissing him quickly. As soon as their lips touched, Gerard opened the door. 

"OH GOD THEY'RE HAVING INTERCOURSE IN THE HALLWAY!" Gerard shrieked before ducking inside. 

Patrick blushed and climbed off Pete. "I was getting my hat," he sighed. 

"Sure, Jan," Frank said. 

"I'm going to murder you," Mikey said. 

"Okay but if you do, can you shoot me while 'Mmm Whatcha Say' plays?" Frank asked like the little shit he is. 

"Murder will ensue. I will rip out your entrails. And beat your corpse with them," Mikey said, poker face present as always. 

"Please don't," Frank begged. Mikey stayed silent. 

"Anyway," Patrick said. "Ray, Bob, Frank," he addressed the three who were already sitting at various spots throughout the room, "Christmas thing is happening again if you're in."

"You already know my answer," Frank said, smiling. 

"You don't even need to ask your parents first?" Gerard asked. 

"You haven't told him?" Ray asked. 

"Later. I'll tell him when we're alone," Frank said. 

"Ray? Bob?" Patrick asked. 

"Probably," Ray said and Bob nodded in agreement. Patrick explained to Mikey and Gerard what he had told Pete earlier. 

"I'm not sure," Gerard said, glancing sideways at his brother. "Our dad's like,  really  strict about Christmas and--" he was cut off by his phone ringing in his pocket. "Hello? Oh...hi Dad." He said into the receiver. "Are--ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW YOU PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT?!?" He screamed into the phone. "Oh don't you fucking tell me to watch my fucking language you prick. You're a worthless piece of shit as a terrible father and I hope you fucking rot in hell!" He removed the phone from his ear, hung up, and hurtled the poor iPhone against the nearest wall, wear it, thankfully, didn't shatter because it had a great case on it. Gerard walked over to Mikey, and dragged him into the hallway, slamming the door after him. 

"Gerard what's wrong?" Mikey asked. 

"That fucking douche has a fucking trip to go on for Christmas and isn't coming home that piece of shit. I fucking hate him Mikey, IT'S THE ONLY TIME WE EVER GET TO SEE HIM AND NOW HE'S FUCKING BUSY! Mom can't even make it either!" Gerard shouted, before turning and punching the wall next to the door. The door slowly opened, and Pete's head popped out. 

"Uh, Gerard, your phones ringing, it's your mother," Pete told him, handing the phone to Mikey before slipping back into the room. Mikey handed the phone to his brother, who answered it.

"What the fuck do you want?" He snarled. He listened for about a minute, before his face softened. "Okay, thank you that means a lot Mom. No, I'm not angry at you, you actually tried. He didn't and I fucking hate him. Okay, bye," he said before hanging up. "So Mom fought their boss and nearly lost her job to try and get home for us, but she couldn't. Dad gave no fucks and just agreed to the trip immediately. Mom's pissed at him too."

"Okay, makes sense. Don't worry Gee, I hate him too," Mikey said. Gerard just nodded, before ripping the door open and walking back inside. Mikey followed him, and saw Gerard lying on his back on his bed, eyes shut and not saying anything. His arms were crossed over his chest and his entire body was shaking with rage. Mikey started explaining what happened, and Gerard didn't stop him, so he managed to get through the whole story. At some point, Ray had gone into the bathroom and gotten a first aid kit, and was sitting next to Gerard, fixing up the injured hand he put through the wall. 

"You know," Pete said, "I've actually always hated your dad. Like a lot."

"Join the club," Mikey said. "Is that because of the time he banned you from seeing us because he found out you were bisexual and wanted you to get your 'unholy diseases away from his kids'?" 

"That and he's a douche to you two," Pete told him. "If he comes Visitor's Day and I don't punch him, it'll be a miracle."

"Agreed," Gerard told him. "Also, fuck them, Patrick I'm accepting your offer."

"Same here," Mikey piped up. 

"You can stay the whole break if you want," Patrick said. "Like Frank does."

"That sounds good," Gerard said. Mikey nodded in agreement. 

"Okay cool," Patrick said. 

"Uh Gerard. That thing you wanted me to tell you? I'll tell you now, if we're done here Patrick?" Frank asked. 

"Yeah go ahead, just let me know when you guys get answers," Patrick said, before dragging Pete out of the room. Bob, Ray and Mikey followed after them a few seconds later. 

"Okay so this is like a really long story, about my childhood, what happened to my mother, and why my dad's a dick. Oh, and why I don't need permission for things," Frank began. They sat facing each other on Gerard's bed. 

"So about a year after I moved away from you, my mom decided to have the whole family go out to dinner one night. I'm not sure if you remember my mom that much, but she was the nicest lady ever. Anyway, we went out to this restaurant kind of far from our house. It was actually very close to this school. That's not important yet, sorry. 

"So we were having a great dinner, I was laughing with my parents, and they were happy. We were all happy. And then a chef came running out of the kitchen. Little did little me know, the kitchen was on fire. The chef had told a hostess, who stood on a chair and starting explaining what had happened. There was no way to save the building, so they wanted to save the people. There was only one door in the front of the restaurant. It was unlikely everyone in the room we were in, which was a separate back room dining area, I probably should've mentioned that. The lady and my mother were ushering all the children out, when another woman joined them. She had a son who appeared to be about my age, but he was pretty small. The roof caught fire at this point, and was starting to collapse. The kid was sobbing, he was like ten, he had no clue what was happening. A beam had fallen across the entryway, and he was separated from his mother. My mom picked him up, and handed him to the lady, saving his life. 'Please take my son with you!' My mother had shouted. The woman sent her son running up ahead, and helped lift me up over the beam. 'Run Frankie! Don't forget I love you!' My mother shouted. I turned away from my parents and ran towards the front. I was almost out the door, when I saw the boy was sitting in front of a collapsed table, crying. 

"I sat next to him and asked 'What's wrong?' 

"'I can't find the exit!' He shrieked before whispering, 'Please help me, I'm scared.' I grabbed his hand and stood up, pulling him with me. I had laced our fingers together, and ran towards the exit. Even when we were outside, I didn't let go of the boy. A police officer led us to one of many ambulances that were there, and I sat with him in the back of it, hugging him as he cried into my shirt. The officer stayed with us and told us to let her know if we saw our parents come out. After about five minutes, the boy's mother came out. He jumped out of the ambulance and ran to her, and they cried and hugged. A lot of people were crying and hugging. The boy led her over to me, and the three of us say there waiting for my parents. My dad came out about ten minutes later, and they rushed him to the hospital. The three of us, and the officer, sat on the ground waiting all night. People were coming out still, just not as many. 

"And then, at about dawn, the building collapsed. The fire had been out for a while, but they hadn't want to risk going in. The firemen ran towards to the remains, searched then for an hour and found...nothing. No one who had been in there was alive still. My mother...was dead. Gone. I sobbed and sobbed and cried and screamed and just refused to believe it. The woman, hugged me, and calmed me down. The officer asked if we knew each other, and was surprised to realize we didn't. But she didn't want to leave my side, neither did the boy. So the three of us went into the officer's car and drove to the hospital. 

"Flash forward a year, and that boy and I were best friends. More like brothers. I was one of the few people who knew about his anxiety, part of which was caused by the fire, and the nightmares because of the fire.  We went to the same school, not this one, and lived in the same town, just on separate sides. I was twelve , and he was eleven, and his mother was like my mother. And my father? He was a drunk. An abusive one too. He was depressed and just generally unfit to care for me. This went on until a little more than two years ago, until it was too bad for me to handle. I ran to the boy's house, told his mom, and we reported it to the police. They were going to put me in a foster home, but my dad fought them. And so did the lady. She refused to let either of those things happen, and offered to adopt me, which I obviously agreed to. There was a huge court case, and the final hearing will be Saturday. There's a very good chance I'll be living with them until I'm 18. I'm happier with them than I've ever been with my dad since the fire." Frank finished. 

Gerard didn't know what to say, so he blurted out what came to mind first, "Who was the boy? Do I know him? Did the lady send you both here? And why was the restaurant being near here important?"

"Yeah she did, she was sending her son here and asked if I wanted to go, and that she'd even pay for it. So I agreed. That was last year. I was a sophomore and he was a freshman. The restaurant, once stood where Quinn's is. That's why I go there so much. And Kellin knows I was in the fire and that's how I got to know him," Frank explained. "And the boy, yeah you know him. It's Patrick." 

~~**~~

"Come on Pete!" Patrick shouted from the bleachers. It was already the second half of the championship game, and the score was tied, again. Patrick was sitting with Brendon and everyone else. They all cheered with what he was saying, and Gerard was whistling really loudly. He was literally wolf whistling to cheer for Pete. Pete was really the only forward they had who was doing good, because earlier in the game, Cecil got mad at someone and started screaming at them. And then punched him. And got kicked out of the game. 

The half ended, still tied 1-1. Which meant over time. Pete wasn't nervous at all.

Yeah fucking right,  he thought,  I'm nervous as fuck. 

That got even worse when no one scored in overtime, so they had to do a shoot out. Three shooters for each team, best out of three wins. If there's a tie, more go until one scores. Pete was sitting on the bench while the couch figured it out, and he was freaking out. His leg was bouncing, and he was drumming his fingers against his bouncing thigh. 

"Yo dude," Cecil said, "your phones beeping like crazy." Pete pulled out his phone and saw he had a text from Patrick. 

FROM: Pattycakes <3 

Calm down okay? I can see you shaking from here. You'll do great and if not, this is the farthest they've ever gotten ever and it's because of  your goal. I'm proud of you and I love you. 

Pete looked up to where Patrick was sitting, and sent him a smile. He then made his hands into the shape of a heart and showed it to Patrick, who did it right back. Nearly everyone on the bench and some people in the stands 'awwed' and Pete giggled. 

TO: Pattycakes <3 

I can see your blush from here

He threw his phone into his bag, as the coach called them together. 

"Alright guys," he said, "the order will be; Ryan Ross, Gabe Saporta, Pete Wentz." 

Well fuck me sideways with a cactus,  Pete thought. 

They were going last too. The other team's player shot and scored. Ryan scored. The second opposing player scored. Gabe scored. Then their final player missed, and it was Pete's turn. 

Make it for the win, miss we go into another round. Fuck,  Pete thought. He took a deep breath, ran forward and shot the ball. As soon as he did, he snapped his eyes shut. Cheers went up from the audience but he couldn't tell from who. He opened his eyes slowly, and saw the ball...in the back of the net. A huge grin broke out on his face as he felt someone jump on his back from behind. He turned his head and saw Ryan and Gabe as well as everyone else on the team jumping onto each other and swarming around him. The barriers were opened again and students and parents swarmed onto the field. Gabe ran over to some guy with long brown hair, and oh look at that they were kissing. Brendon tackled Ryan in a huge hug, and Pete saw Patrick standing a little bit away from him with the rest of their friends. Pete pushed through the crowed, and accept congratulations on the way. He walked up behind Patrick and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy's shoulders. 

"Boo!" He whispered before kissing Patrick's cheek. 

"Hey you won! See I told you'd do it!" Patrick said, spinning around in Pete's arms. He wrapped his arms around the taller boy's waist and hugged him. "Also we have a surprise for you. Once you escape, come back to the dorm, I'll be there." Patrick kissed him quickly before walking off. 

The game had started rather early, so it was only 7 when Pete made it back to the dorm. Patrick was sitting on Pete's bed looking at some papers that looked like sheet music. "Shower," he said, without looking up.

Pete chuckled. "Sir yes sir!" He said, before throwing in a salute. Patrick gave him a 'really?' look and he just laughed before walking into the bathroom. He came back out a minute later, to see no Patrick on his bed, but instead boxers, black skinny jeans, and...his uniform? Weird. He put the clothes on anyway, and was just pulling the shirt back on when Patrick reentered the room with his guitar and a notebook overflowing with papers. 

"Oh you're ready! Let's go!" He grabbed Pete's hand, threw his stuff down on his bed, and started dragging him out the door. 

"Wait my eyeliner! And my straighteners!" Pete whined. 

"Pete we're gonna be late!" Patrick said. Pete used his puppy eyes, and they worked. Patrick sighed, "Five minutes."

"Thanks Tricky!" Pete beamed, kissing Patrick's cheek and sprinting into the bathroom. He emerged, five minutes later, with perfect eyeliner and straightened fringe."Okay, let’s go now." He noticed that Patrick was still his jersey, which he had worn to the game again. "Where are we going?" 

"You'll see, now come on!" Patrick said, grabbing his hand and leading him through the building and outside. He walked out of the gate at the entrance, and explained to Pete that he had signed him out at the main building so they knew they were gone and were fine with it. Pete pulled Patrick to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. He leaned down and kissed the smaller boy's cheek, causing him to blush. They stopped outside a place called 'Quinn's' and Patrick looked almost...scared. 

"Wait isn't this the place...?" Pete trailed off. Patrick had told him the story of the restaurant and what had happened with Frank. 

"Yup, I've actually never been, but Frank loves the place so let's go," Patrick said, taking a deep breath. Pete kissed his temple and opened the door. 

"Ah! You must be Patrick right? Short, redhead, dude, dorky glasses, fedora, yup you're him!" A guy with a lot of tattoos said. "I'm Kellin, the people I'm assuming you want are this way."

"Uh...yes?" Patrick said. 

Kellin laughed and led them to a table where Frank, Gerard, Ray, Mikey, Bob, Brendon, Ryan, Hayley, Andy, Joe, Ashlee, and Lindsey were sitting. Gabe from Pete's team, who was also a pretty good friend of his, and the long haired dude were there too. 

"BECKETT!" Pete yelled, running up to long haired dude and hugging him.

Beckett laughed, "Hey Pete." 

"Patrick this is William Fucking Beckett and this dude here is Fucking William Beckett," Pete said gesturing to Gabe. 

"That's true," Gabe laughed. Pete slid into the one of the three booths the had pushed together and pulled Patrick in next to him. The diner was basically empty, there was one other group of people...who just left so now it was just the 16 of them. Kellin reappeared, and climbed onto the top of the backrest of the booth above Frank and sat  with his legs crossed under him. He started running his hands through Frank's hair. 

"What the fuck Kellin?" Frank asked, laughing. 

"Your hair is fluffy," Kellin said seriously. "Anyway, what can I get you people?" 

"Food," Frank said. Kellin slapped his head with the pad of paper he was holding. They all ordered two large pizzas and a crap ton of fries (Frank literally said "Add a crap ton of fries to the order.") and just a bunch of random drinks. Frank pulled of the end of the wrapper to his straw once Kellin and Vic came back with the drinks, and blew the wrapper off it at Gerard. 

"Dude!" Gerard said, swatting Frank's arm. Because he was a little shit, Pete took the wrapper to his straw and did the same thing to Gerard. And then Gabe did it. Then Joe. Then Mikey. Then everyone else sitting at the table, at nearly the same time. Gerard was sitting with a pile of straw wrappers on his head, looking defeated. 

“I hate all of you,” he pouted. “You’re all so mean.”

They just laughed and Kellin returned with all their food. Somehow, there ended up being a fry war between everybody (probably Joe’s fault) and Hayley ended up winning (somehow. How do you even win a fry war?). Joe, Ray, and Lindsey were attempting to pick fries out of their hair, when Gerard sneezed, causing the straw wrapper pile that had moved from his head to the table in front of him, to spread out and go everywhere.

“You need to stop sneezing and hiccuping dude!” Bob laughed, “It just leads to bad things.”

"My sneezes are too powerful for this world," Gerard sighed dramatically. 

"Yeah they are," Andy agreed. They spent about another half hour there, before they all had to leave since their parents would be picking them up and taking them home rather soon since Thanksgiving was the next day. 

Patrick was throwing a few things into his now empty backpack that he would definitely want to have until Sunday, but was leaving his guitars because he had others at home. His mom texted him and told him she was outside waiting already. Pete was going with the Way's since apparently they were neighbors, and Mrs. Way was outside already. Both boys finished throwing a few more items into their bags. Pete was about to open the for when he felt the other boy latch onto him. He turned around and Patrick's face was against his chest, and his arms were around Pete's waist. The taller boy wrapped his arms around Patrick's shoulders, and they hugged for about a minute, before Pete slowly backed away. 

"I'll see you in what? Five days?" Pete asked. 

"Four, wait three since we come back Sunday," Patrick said. 

"Okay then," Pete said, before kissing Patrick quickly. "Three days, I'll see you then. I love you Tricky."

"I-I know," Patrick said, smiling slightly. Pete grabbed his hand and lead him down to the pickup/drop off area of the school, which was near the gates. Pete hugged him again, not for as long though, and kissed the top of his head. 

"I'm probably gonna forget you're not there and start talking to myself," Pete mumbled. 

Patrick laughed, "Let me know if you did."

"Definitely. Oh, Mrs. Way's right there and Gerard just pried himself away from Frank. So I gotta go, bye Rickster," Pete said. "Love you!" He told him, before jogging off and blowing him a kiss. 

"Love you too," Patrick whispered, not having a chance to respond properly. He walked over to his mother's car, where he saw Hayley and Frank, who would be staying with them as the final time he would go to court to see if he was allowed to officially live with them was on Saturday, and he didn't want to go to his dad's place. 

"Hey Patrick!" His mom said from her seat. 

"Hey mom!" He called back, sliding into the back of the car next to Frank. His mother asked him a few questions for the first five minutes, before allowing him to put his earphones in and text Pete for the rest of the journey. 


	9. "That's Just Cuz They're Jesus"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldnt think of a chapter title so i used my typo when i meant jealous

There were four nights spent away from the school; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Which for Pete, meant four nights with basically no sleep. 

Insomnia's a real bitch,  he thought, Friday night at about midnight, after attempting, and failing, to sleep. He grabbed his phone off his bedside table and pulled up Patrick's contact. 

TO: Pattycakes <3 

R u awake? Cant sleep :( 

FROM: Pattycakes <3 

 

Yeah, surprisingly I am. Do you wanna call? 

TO: Pattycakes <3 

Please? My parents r @ my grandmas for the night for some reason so I'm alone and my house is fucking creepy af. My lights on because dark houses r weird man 

Instead of a beep for a text, he got the intro to Holiday by Green Day blasting at him. He answered quickly, seeing  Pattycakes <3  at the top of the screen. 

"Hey," he said into the phone, rolling so he was curled on his side instead of flat on his back. 

"Hey yourself," Patrick replied, giggling. 

"So, your mother doesn't mind you talking on the phone at this time? Like it doesn't wake anyone up?" Pete asked.  

"Nah, I have a big house and pretty thick walls," Patrick said.

"Oh really?" Pete asked suggestively. 

"No. Not that thick you little pervert," Patrick said. 

Pete laughed, "I saw my chance and I took it."

"Clearly. Hang on a second, I wanna see if something will work. Okay so move your phone away from your face." Pete did as he was told and an incoming video call from Patrick a second later. "Hi!" Patrick smirked. He was lying on his stomach with his phone propped up against a pillow, and the white chords of his earbuds were visible. 

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you without glasses or a hat," Pete jokes. 

Patrick rolled his eyes and scoffed, "You see me without them every night dude."

"Yeah but it's still odd to see. I would've thought the fedora was surgically attached to your head if I didn't know any better." Patrick laughed at that, his head falling forwards as his shoulders shook. 

"You're an idiot," Patrick said, shaking his head. 

Pete tensed up, and the smile he had disappeared. 

"What's wrong?" Patrick asked. 

"Noth-Nothing," Pete whispered. 

"Bullshit," Patrick said, surprising the other boy. 

"Well uh, can you not, you know, call me an idiot?" Pete asked. 

"Of course! I'm sorry," Patrick said. 

"Nah it's just well," Pete said, then sighed. "I'm just gonna tell you the whole story okay?" Patrick nodded, and Pete took a deep breath. 

~~*~~

_ "So what you're saying is you can't read? What are you, an idiot?" A kid asked, then he and all his friends laughed.  _

__

_ The twelve year old Pete Wentz wasn't expecting a great first day at this new school, but he wasn't expecting them to find out already.  _

__

_ "No! I'm not an idiot! I'm dyslexic you moron, which means it's physically harder for me to read!" He huffed.  _

__

_ "So it means you were born an idiot?" The same kid asked and all his friends laughed again because that was  soooo  funny.  _

__

_ "N-No!" Pete said, getting extremely frustrated. "I'm not an idiot!" _

__

_ "Sure thing idiot!" The kid said, before kicking Pete and leaving for the day along with all his friends as their bus came to take them home.  _

__

_ Pete was sitting, alone in the front of the school yard, waiting for his mother still. He couldn't help the few tears that escaped, he was a frustrated crier.  _

__

_ I'm not an idiot,  he thought.  I just have a learning disorder.  _

__

_ That didn't stop him from crying.  _

__

_ "Hey are you okay?" A small, quiet voice asked him. He looked up and saw a blonde boy staring down at him.  _

__

_ "Y-Yeah I'm fine," Pete said, pulling his hoodie sleeves over his hands to attempt to wipe his eyes.  _

__

_ "No you aren't," the boy said, and sat down on the sidewalk with him. "Was it what that guy was saying? He's a meany."  _

__

_ "Yeah he is," Pete grumbled.  _

__

_ "I'm sorry. I don't recognize you though," the boy said, turning to face him.  _

__

_ "I'm new here, I don't have any friends." _

__

_ "You can hang out with my brother, his friends and I!" The boy said. "If you want. I'm in sixth grade, my brother's in seventh." _

__

_ "I'm in seventh too. That works, you seem nice," Pete said, smiling slightly.  _

__

_ "Come on! Let's go meet them!" The boy said, standing up and grabbing Pete's hand, pulling him with him.  _

__

_ "Well I should tell you my name," Pete giggled. "I'm Pete." _

__

_ "I'm Mikey," the boy said, smiling. _

~~*~~

"Oh so that's how you and Mikey met!" Patrick said. 

"Yup," Pete replied. "Then I met Gerard and these guys, Jack, Tyler, and Josh. They all stopped hanging out with us in highschool, I think they moved or something." He shrugged. 

Patrick laughed a little, "Two of them have the same names as the guys of Twenty One Pilots. I find that funny for some reason."

"I think Josh actually played drums. His last name was like Armstrong or something though. Like Billie Joe!" Pete laughed, which set Patrick off laughing. 

"So...you have dyslexia?" He asked a minute later, once their laughter died down. 

"Yeah," Pete replied. "Mikey and Gerard spent that whole year and the year after helping me read. I can do it now, but it's still hard. I don't ever read books really, I'll listen to audio books and stuff but don't actually read them. School books are annoying because they prefer me to actually read them, and also I can't really buy a bunch of audio books all the time." 

"That's stupid," Patrick said. 

"Yeah, I haven't told anyone about that though," Pete admitted. 

"If you ever need help, I'll read to you," Patrick said. 

"Thanks Lunchbox," Pete smirked. 

"Whatever you say, Panda. Also, you should tell the others if it bothers you. Do any of them know?" Pete's smirk fell and he shook his head. 

Pete was about to reply verbally when Patrick yawned. 

"Get some sleep, Trick," Pete said. "It's like...wow it's 2 am. And no, none of them, not even Mikey know."

"Oh okay and nah, I'm not tired," Patrick said, before contradicting himself by yawning. 

"You sure about that?" Pete joked. 

"Uh well uh...I don't want to," Patrick said. 

"Don't stay up for me."

"I'm not, it's just, the, you know, nightmares keep happening."

"The ones you can't remember?"

"Oh. Um...well I...do remember them," Patrick's sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I just didn't tell you at the time because it was early and I didn't want to tell you the whole story of the fire just yet. But that's what they're usually about."

"Usually?"

"Oh crap. Uh well..." He trailed off scratching the back of his head. 

"Patrick, what's wrong?" Pete asked gently. "What are these other nightmares about?"

"Uh it's um w-well u-uh," Patrick said before sniffling. Pete's eyes widened when he realized the other boy was crying. 

"Trick? Oh god I'm sorry! What's wrong?!" Pete told him. 

"N-Nothing. It's just those kids keep making fun of me when you aren't around," Patrick whispered. 

"Who?" Pete demanded. 

Patrick flinched, before whispering, "Those same people who we got in that fight with."

"I'm so fucking done!" Pete screamed, before disappearing from view. Patrick flinched again, and wiped his eyes. 

"Pete no, it-it's fine!" Patrick insisted. He heard something crash, and screamed, "Pete!"

"What the fuck do you want?!?" Pete snarled. 

"I-I'm s-sorry," Patrick stuttered. 

"No, oh fuck, I'm so sorry, I'm not mad at you, I'm pissed at them not you. I'm so sorry for yelling at you Tricky."

"I-it's o-okay. W-What d-did you br-break?" He stuttered out. 

"Oh, I may have thrown a figurine at the wall." 

"Oh." 

"Yeah. Sorry, I need to control that a bit," Pete said, smiling sheepishly. 

"Y-Yeah a b-bit," Patrick chuckled. 

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah I-I'll be f-fine," Patrick said. "J-Just anxiety and s-stuff makes the s-stutter worse."

"I'm sorry for yelling," Pete told him. 

"Seriously, it's fine. S-See? Almost g-gone for now," Patrick said. 

"I'm still sorry," Pete said. 

"There's no need to apologize Petey," Patrick told him. 

"Okay."

Patrick yawned again. "Maybe I should get some sleep," he said. 

"Yeah I should try too, and you have the hearing tomorrow and all. If you have a nightmare, you can call me, okay?" Pete said. 

"Okay. Night Panda, I love you," Patrick made a heart with his hands at the camera. Pete screenshotted it, before the other boy moved. 

"Night Lunchbox, I love you too," Pete made the same gesture, and Patrick screenshotted it as well. 

They hung up, and set the separate screenshots as their backgrounds. Without the other one knowing. 

~~**~~

Frank Iero woke up the next morning, nervous and excited. It was the day of the final hearing. The whole day was a blur, he didn't really remember anything other than being told that Ms. Stump had full custody over him now. He hugged her, and Patrick and Hayley, and yeah, they may have cried a little bit. The car ride home was full of jokes and great moments, like the family they now were. 

"Visitor's Day is Wednesday, right?" Patricia asked. Hayley nodded from the front seat. "Oh! Patrick I can meet your boyfriend!" She teased jokingly. 

"Don't forgot Frank's!" Patrick said, smirking. 

"WOAH FRANKIE ISN'T HETERO?" Patricia screamed. 

Frank laughed, "Nah I'm bi. And I've got a boyfriend. His name is Gerard. Remember? That kid I used to live across the street from before moving here."

"Aw! You were reunited with him! And now you're dating! How cute!" She gushed. 

"Pat!" Frank whined. She just giggled, and after a minute, so did the rest of them. They felt like a real family. 

~~**~~

"Hey Patrick can I ask you something?" Frank asked, walking into Patrick's room later that night. 

"Sure what's up?" He asked, looking up from his phone, which he had been previously texting Pete on. 

"I'm confused about Gerard," Frank said, shutting the door behind him and moving so he was sitting on the end of Patrick's bed. "Like my feelings and shit."

"Well if you don't mind telling me, how exactly do you feel about him?" The other boy said, pushing up his glasses. 

"Well uh," Frank said then sighed. "I like him a lot. I want to take him on huge extravagant dates all the time, and hold his hand and kiss him and hug him and never let go. Whenever I think of him, I can't help grinning, same thing when I talk to him too. And if I hear his name, whether people are talking about him specifically or not, I get butterflies. His smile makes my shitty days better." He was blushing by the end. 

"Aw!" Patrick said. Frank grabbed a pillow and smacked his face with it, causing them both to laugh. "But, I'm not going to tell you what you feel because I don't know what you feel. But to me, it sounds like you, like you love him Frank."

"What makes you say that?" Frank questioned. 

Patrick shrugged, "That's the same way I feel about Pete," he said nonchalantly. 

"Oh ok -- wait, you love Pete?" Frank exclaimed. 

"Uh yeah," Patrick blushed, unable to keep the smile off his face. "But this is about you, shut up!"

"Does he know?" 

"Yeah."

"How'd you tell him? It might help me," Frank said. Patrick retold the story and Frank "awwed". 

"Yeah yeah shut up!" Patrick giggled. "What're you gonna do?"

"Well I had an idea for a date in the park. Like a picnic thing." 

"OOH! WE CAN SO WORK WITH THAT!" Patrick shrieked. "Okay I'm gonna help you plan this and we're gonna make it perfect!" He squealed. 

Frank burst out laughing, "You sound like a school girl!"

"Shut up!" Patrick said laughing. "Hey, maybe Hayley can help. And Pete and Mikey know what he likes so they might be able to help."

"I'll get Hayley, you get them?" Frank offered. Patrick nodded, pulling out his phone. Frank opened the door and screamed out to Hayley, who walked in a few seconds later. 

"Okay so Pete's having Mikey go over his house and they're gonna Skype us, then we'll explain," Patrick said. His laptop started making the weird Skype ringing noise and he opened up the video chat. 

"Hey cutie," Pete smirked. 

"I'm leaving if that keep happening," Hayley teased . 

"Agreed," Frank and Mikey chorused back, smirking. 

"We're here to talk about your relationship Frank, we can have one moment," Patrick teased, shoving the other boy. They then explained why they called this 'meeting' and Hayley and Pete gushed while Mikey just rolled his eyes. 

"Okay so I was thinking a picnic in the park..." Frank said. They spent the next two hours perfecting their plan for the date. 

~~**~~

Sunday was the day Frank had planned the date for. Pete, Patrick, Mikey, and Hayley had stopped at Quinn's to get food then went to the nearby park to set up. 

"GERAAAAAAAAARD!" Frank screeched, running up to the other boy. 

"What?" He yelled back, unable to keep the grin off his face. 

"Hi," Frank whispered. Gerard laughed and kissed Frank. "WE'RE GOING SOMEWHERE OKAY?"

"OKAY!" Gerard screamed back. 

"Cool let's go!" Frank said, dragging the boy who was already wearing a leather jacket, scarf, and shoes out of the building. They walked to the park talking about how Thanksgiving was and Frank told him about how the case went. 

"I'm so happy for you Frankie!" Gerard said, stopping and hugging him. 

"Thanks! I'm so excited," Frank replied, pulling Gerard into the park. He led him into the small wooded area in the back of the park, easily finding the place he had told Patrick and the others to set up. 

There was a stereotypical red and white checkered picnic blanket and a tan basket. Fairy lights were strung up in the lower hanging branches, and they were lighting up the area, as the sun was starting to go down. There were jam jars with multi-colored lights inside of them strewn through the grass. 

Gerard gasped. "It's beautiful," he whispered. 

"Patrick, Hayley, Mikey, and Pete helped with some of the ideas," Frank said as they sat down. He took out the food and handed Gerard his. "And Kellin and Vic provided the food."

"Wow that's amazing of them," Gerard said sincerely. They ate in near silence and when they were finished, Frank crawled over to sit right in front of Gerard. 

"There's a reason I did all of this," Frank said before taking a deep breath. "I love you Gerard."

Gerard's eyes went wide, before he broke out in a huge grin. "I love you too Frank."

Frank's grin matched Gerard's. He leaned forward and kissed Gerard, easily deepening the kiss like he had done many times before. "I love you," he said when he pulled back. 

"I love you too," Frank giggled before pecking Gerard's lips. 

"I love you," Gerard said again giggling. "It's fun to say it." 

"It really is."

~~**~~

"Hey Petey!" Patrick called, walking into the dorm. They had just gotten back to school after setting up for the date, and Pete had wandered off to their room while Patrick went to say hello to a few other people, and tell Frank where Gerard was. 

"I'm a bad boyfriend," Pete sighed from where he was laying face down on his bed. 

"No you're not!" Patrick insisted. 

"Yes I am! We haven't even been on an official date if you don't count the date and I definitely don't count the dance!" Pete told him, gesturing wildly with his hands. 

"So let's go on a date," Patrick said, shrugging. 

"Where on earth can we go?" Pete exclaimed. 

"It doesn't have to be fancy," Patrick said, sitting next to Pete on the brunette's bed. 

"Can we go for a walk around the park Gerard and Frank are at? We can avoid them, that would be awkward otherwise."

"Sure, come on, put on a hoodie or something, it's cold."

Pete grabbed his favorite purple hoodie, and threw it on. He also grabbed his black and white striped beanie and a pair of black gloves, which he stuffed into his pocket. Patrick threw a coat over his blue button down, grabbed Pete's hand and tugged him out the door. 

They were walking down the street, holding hands, when all of a sudden Patrick pulled away. 

"What's wrong Lunchbox?" Pete asked. 

"People are staring," he whispered. 

"That's just cuz they're jealous," Pete said smirking. 

"Yeah, cuz they're all wondering how  you  are dating  me ," Patrick grumbled. 

"Or they're jealous of how lucky I am to be dating you," Pete said in a sing-song voice. 

Patrick blushed, before lightly shoving the other boy. Pete laughed, before moving closer, and gently taking Patrick's hand. The shorter boy squeezed the other's hand in reassurance. They made it to the park, and Patrick was shivering slightly. 

"We can go back if you're too cold," Pete told him. 

"No I'm not really cold...just my hands are," Patrick said. 

"Here," Pete said. He pulled off his left glove, and gave it to a confused Patrick. The smaller boy pulled it on. 

"But...now you hand will be cold," he said. 

"Nope, because I'll have yours to keep it warm," Pete said, taking Patrick's right hand in his left. Patrick laughed, then leaned up to kiss the other boy's cheek. 

"You're such a little dork," he giggled, before resting his head on his boyfriends shoulder. 

"I'm great though, really," Pete said. 

"Yeah you are. I love you," Patrick told him. 

"I love you too Tricky," Pete sighed happily. 

"Come on I wanna show you something," Patrick said, dragging Pete off into the park. The latter giggled at his antics and happily allowed himself to be pulled along. Patrick didn't stop until they're reached a bridge over a small river. The river was about ten feet under the bridge since it was below ground level. It ran out of a smaller pond from a mini water fall. "There's a story with this bridge," Patrick said. "If you wanna hear it." 

"I'd love to," Pete said. 

"Well you know that bridge in France? Where people put locks on it and throw the keys into the water? People do that here too, see?" He gestured to the locks on the chain link section under the railing. "Well people started doing that because of the legend. There were two girls who were in love and could only meet on this bridge. They were forbidden to see each other because of their parents."

"It sounds like Romeo and Juliet but with lesbians," Pete said. 

"Yeah it basically is. Anyway, one of them was suicidal and couldn't handle it. So she jumped off this bridge and hit her head. Her lover was just in time to see her fall. She couldn't think of another way, so she followed after her true love. Their bodies were found the next day. Most people don't realize it's two girls, one of them had short hair and many mistook her for a boy. So now people come here to profess their love. I told Frank about it but he had his heart set on a picnic," Patrick said. They both chuckled a bit at that. 

"But anyway," Patrick said. "I didn't bring a lock or anything, and we're not up here to throw ourselves off. I brought you here because I love you. Even though you know that I still wanted to bring you here. I've been exploring the park since the first day of school and this is my favorite part. It's just so pretty." He rested his head on Pete's shoulder as the sun finished setting. 

"It really is Trick," Pete said before kissing the top of his head. 

~~**~~ 

Visitor's Day seemed to come rather quickly. Pete, Gerard, and Mikey all woke up nervous. Gerard and Mikey about their father and Pete was terrified to meet Patricia and have them both meet his parents. 

"OH I FORGOT!" Pete screamed. "Trick guess what!" 

"What?" Patrick asked. 

"Okay so background stuff first. I was born when my parents were like 18 or something. And I'd always wanted a sibling. But I never got one. So my parents are like 34, so still really young. So I went home for Thanksgiving and my dad sat me down and told me they had a surprise. My mom walked out and well, she's pregnant Patrick!" He was beaming at this point. "She's gonna have a kid the end of January! I'm gonna be an older brother!"

"I'm so happy for you Pete!" Patrick squealed, hugging Pete. 

"Thanks! They don't know the gender yet but I don't care! I'm just really excited." 

"That's great though! But come on, parents will be here soon."

"Oh god your Mom is going to hate me."

"Oh please she loves you!" Patrick said as they walked down the the main building. The dining hall was set similarly to the dance with the tables and chairs against one wall. Teacher with name stickers were standing around. The headmaster and a secretary were at a table in front, checking parents names off of a list. 

"Hey Mom, Dad!" Pete said. A man and a woman walked over. The man looked almost exactly like Pete, except he had green eyes. The woman had eyes the same as Pete's except she was blonde. "This is Patrick my boyfriend. Patrick this is my dad, Peter II, and my mom, Dale."

"Aw Pete has a boyfriend," his mom gushed. Patrick smirked, seeing this as his chance for revenge. 

"Yeah I do," Pete blushed, causing Patrick to giggle. 

"You know you're the first person he's dated that he's let us meet?" His dad said. 

"Dad!" Pete screeched. 

"I didn't know that. Anymore embarrassing things you'd like to tell me?" 

"NO DONT DO IT!" Pete screeched. The other three laughed. 

"You know quite a few things about me, it's only fair I knew some about you," Patrick teased. 

"Well...Pete slept with a teddy bear until last year. I think it was a Panda," his mother said, knowing Pete hated that for some reason. 

Patrick couldn't contain his laughter. "A panda, eh Panda?" 

"Shut up!" Pete said, blushing. 

"No it's cute!" Patrick said. 

"Noooo, stooop" he whined. 

"Well it's very nice to meet you Patrick," Mrs. Wentz said. 

"You too. It's pleasure to meet the both of you," Patrick said. "Oh my mother is here. Should I bring her over?" 

"Yes!" Pete's mother said the same time Pete shook his head 'no' violently. Patrick smirked, kissed Pete's cheek and went to get his mother. They returned about a minute later, and went to Gerard and Ray's room, where they agreed to meet so they could all meet each other and talk better. 

"Oh so you're Pete!" She said happily. 

"Yeah," he said. 

"Pete Wentz right? WAIT A MINUTE!" She yelled, causing Pete to flinch and Patrick to laugh. 

Patrick explained that yes, he was dating the kid who got Hayley in trouble and it was just self defense. She quickly forgave Pete and hugged him. 

"She's a hugger," Patrick said. 

"So's my mom," Pete rasped, as he was getting the air crushed out of him. Pete's mom pulled Patrick into a hug. They eventually pulled away. Frank, Gerard and Mikey came over followed by the Ways' parents. 

"Hey guys," Gerard said after they were introduced. "So this," he said, looking at his father pointedly and gesturing to Frank, "is my boyfriend." He then kissed Frank right in front of his homophobic father, who promptly flipped out. 

"YOU!" He screamed at Pete. "You brought your disease upon my son!" 

"It's not Pete's fault! It's no ones fault!" Patrick yelled, surprising everyone. 

"You shut your mouth!" He looked at their intertwined hands distastefully. "I don't even want to know what you've  done  with that mouth of yours."

Patrick's face went bright red from anger. He was about to scream something when Ray walked over. Mikey grabbed him, and kissed him as well. "THIS IS MY BOYFRIEND RAY TORO!" He screamed at his father. Ray was stunned because  what the actual fuck is going on?  Their father was furious now. 

"You little faggots," he spat at Pete and Patrick. "You've corrupted my sons you wastes of space." Patrick ran out of the room, and Pete lunged at Mr. Way. Mikey caught him before he could attack the man. Patricia ran after her son. 

"YOU'RE HORRIBLE HORRENDOUS SCUM!" Pete screamed. "YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A HOMOPHOBIC BASTARD WHO IS NEGLECTFUL TO HIS SONS! ROT IN HELL YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!" He freed himself from Mikey and ran out the door after them. 

~~**~~

Patrick had run down a corridor and sunk down against the wall, sobbing. He saw his mother about ten seconds later and she sat next to him, before pulling him in a hug. 

"P-Pete p-probably be-believed him and h-hates me n-now," Patrick sobbed. 

"Honey listen to yourself! Why would Pete hate you? Because you're gay? That makes no sense dear," his mother said gently. 

Patrick laughed through his tears a little. "No but he might realize that I am a waste of space."

"You aren't a waste of space dear," his mother said, rubbing his shoulder. 

"Then why isn't he out here?" Patrick screeched. 

"Because that blonde boy, Mikey I think, is physically restraining him. He's screaming his head off at Mr. Way," Patricia told him. 

They heard a crash, a scream of "Mother fucker!" And then the skidding of shoes. Pete came barreling around the corner and slipped, before falling flat on his stomach right in front of them. "Uh fuck," he groaned. He looked up when he heard Patrick sniffle. 

Patricia stood up, "I'm going to leave you boys alone. I have a few words for Mr. Way," she said before walking away. Pete crawled over to Patrick and pulled him against his chest. 

"I know what you're thinking, you're not a waste of space. You aren't scum. None of us are okay? Don't listen to him," Pete said, pressing a kiss to Patrick's temple. 

"Thanks Panda," Patrick said, before sniffling again. He felt Pete shake and looked up to see him crying slightly. "No no don't cry!" Patrick said. "Please don't!" Pete smile sadly before wiping the tears away, but they kept coming before he was full on sobbing into Patrick's shoulder. 

"I hate that man so much, he's such an ass to Mikey and Gerard. And even me, and I'm not even his kid. Seeing him be an ass to you want the last straw," he said as Patrick wiped away his tears. Eventually they stopped. 

"I'm so sorry. But we should head back in there okay?"

"Yeah let's go," Pete said. He stood up and helped Patrick up. They walked back hand in hand. 

"No, it's my home to and you are not kicking our sons out!" Mrs. Way said. 

"Fine but I'm not going to accept them. Now if you'll excuse me I'd like to speak to their teachers," Mr. Way said storming out of the room. 

"The rest of us are going to do the same, we'll see you boys later," Mrs. Wentz said. 

They didn't see their parents until the end of the day, when they were able to say goodbye as they all headed home. 

"It'll get better Mikey," Gerard told his brother, hugging him. 

"I hope so Gee." 

 


	10. Fun With Stage Fright!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cameos from some random people who will be in this again later on

Nothing happened since Visitor's Day. Well, stuff had happened, but nothing important. It was the Friday before the nearly two week Winter Break, and it was the day of the Holiday Concert. The chorus and band classes would perform two songs, and then the two music classes would have the students who wrote songs for their projects perform. Then a few other performers doing either original songs or covers. 

Patrick was slightly freaking out, since he had agreed to do a song by himself. He had secretly titled it  Yule Shoot Your Eye Out,  and by secretly he meant mentally. As in he would lie and say it don't have a title. It was going to be just him and his guitar on stage in front of hundreds of students and parents. Even his dad was going to be there. 

Part of why Patrick wrote the song was, similar to the Ways, his dad wouldn't be home on Christmas. His parents were divorced, and his dad was spending Christmas with his new girlfriend and her family. So Patrick was obviously pissed off. 

None of his friends, not even Pete, knew he would be performing (he had wanted to surprise them, especially the Ways, who would easily relate to the song) so they were all extremely worried as to why he was trying, and failing, to cover up the fact he was freaking out. 

"Is Trick okay?" Frank asked Pete. 

"No clue, he keeps saying he is, but I found him mid panic attack when I got back to our dorm yesterday. I asked him why he had one but he said, 'It's a surprise, you'll see'," Pete rambled. 

"No surprise is worth him having a panic attack," Frank said.

"That's what I said!" Pete exclaimed. "It could have to do with his dad thing, since he is coming to the concert."

"Who knows?" Frank sighed. "But I guess we'll find out later."

"OH WOW WE'RE STUPID!" Pete screamed. "What if he's freaking out about performing?"

"OH FUCK THAT'S IT!" Frank screeched. "We probably should've realized that sooner." 

"Agreed," Pete sighed. "That was the dumbest thing I've ever done. Well, not done I guess since we didn't do anything."

"Yeah. You should probably go check on him. I would but we need to practice again," Frank said, waving and leaving. 

Pete all but ran back to his dorm. Patrick was sitting on Pete's bed, with his guitar and sheet music, calm as he could ever be without being drugged. "Hey," Pete said slowly. "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm good," Patrick said looking up. 

"Nervous?" Pete asked, moving to sit next to him. 

"Very," Patrick told him, drawing in a shaky breath. Pete sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. The shorter boy leaned into the embrace, and took another shaky breath. 

"Don't worry, we'll do great! You'll do great! You're great!" Pete said. 

"Everything's great!" He said, imitating Pete, who laughed, and shoved him gently. 

"Shut it!" Pete laughed, before wrapping his arm back around the hotter boy. 

~~**~~ 

At 12:30, a half hour before the concert started, Frank, Mikey, Ray, Bob, Patrick, Pete, Joe, and Andy were standing backstage in a group, staring worriedly at Gerard, who was pacing in a circle muttering lyrics to himself. 

"Should we do something?" Mikey asked. 

"What did you do when Pete was freaking out about the game?" Ray asked Patrick. 

"Stuck my tongue down his throat," Patrick deadpanned. They all turned to him and he jumped a little. "I'm serious." They then all turned to Frank, who rolled his eyes, walked up to Gerard and slapped him. 

"That works too," Andy said. 

They turned back to Frank, who had taken Patrick's advice and stuck his tongue down Gerard's throat. 

"Wow okay then," Pete said. 

"Well it is what we told them to do," Patrick said, shrugging. 

"Okay everyone," Elton said, coming backstage with a clipboard. He noticed Frank and Gerard, and sighed. "Frank please take your tongue out of his mouth, thank you." Frank pulled away and laughed, as Gerard went red faced. "Anyway, first we have the chorus classes. Then the band classes, and then the music classes. The order for those is up here. Also, the solos performers who are after them, the order is up here. Patrick Stump, can I see you for a second?"

Patrick nodded and followed Elton a few feet away. "Okay so I didn't put you on the list to keep your secret. You're going after Brendon and Ryan's duet, and before Sam. She's going before Milly and Quinn, who are last. So you'll be like third to last."

"Okay cool," he replied, nodding. He walked back to Pete, Andy, and Joe, who were all muttering "You tell him!" "No you tell him!" and "No  you  tell him!" 

"He's  your  boyfriend," Andy sassed Pete, crossing his arms and smirking. 

Pete sighed, "Patrick we're going first for our section."

Patrick went pale. His eyes widened and he turned and ran out of the room. 

"TRICK WAIT!" Pete screamed. He followed the shorter boy out of the room, and unlike when they were at the mall in the beginning of the year, Pete caught him. He wrapped his arms around the shorter boy's waist from behind, and picked him up. 

"LET ME GO!" Patrick shrieked hysterically, kicking at hitting Pete. The taller boy walked backwards with Patrick in his arms into an empty dressing room the drama department used when putting on their Spring Musical, which took place on the same stage they were performing. Pete put him down, but stood in front of the door, with his arms crossed. "Pete let me leave, please please let me leave. Oh god please please please!" He shrieked, voice rising in panic. 

"Yeah okay, I shouldn't have dragged you out there. I shouldn't calmly guided you out, but I'm sorry okay?" Pete said slowly. He placed an arm around Patrick's shoulder lightly. "I just wanted to get you out of there and didn't think properly." Patrick was still breathing heavily, he had doubled over with his hands on his knees. "Place your hand on my stomach."

The other boy turned his head to look at Pete and gave him a 'What the Everloving Fuck Are You Smoking?' look, but did in anyway. 

"There," Pete said. "Try and copy my breathing with yours." Patrick did it, and managed to slow his breathing down enough. "It'll be okay, I promise, you'll do great."

Patrick straightened his body, before hugging Pete tightly. "Thank you," he whispered into the other boy's shoulder. Pete kissed the top of his head, before pulling away slightly. 

"I have an idea," he said. Patrick quirked an eyebrow, as Pete took off his glasses for him. "Now you won't be able to see them as well. They won't be as scary."

Patrick smiled at him, before kissing him lightly. "Thank you so much Pete." He took the emo's hand and they walked back to the main waiting area on the side of the stage. 

"The chorus already did their two songs while you guys were gone," Joe said. "And the band literally just finished their first song. You gonna be okay Patrick?" 

"Yeah," he said shakily. "I'll be good."

"We're really excited to hear you sing though!" Andy said, grinning at him. 

Oh shoot,  Patrick thought.  I've never actually sung live for them. Oops. 

Before he knew it, the band students were sitting in the audience and Elton had the microphone. 

"Now!" He said cheerily. "We have the members of the music classes, performing their semester projects! They had to write an original song with only the members of their groups. Up first, we have; Pete Wentz, Andy Hurley, Joe Trohman, and Patrick Stump!" Everybody cheered as the four of them took the stage. 

Elton handed the microphone to Patrick, who gave him a slight smile. Pete and Joe both had microphones in case they needed them for backup vocals. Patrick shot a 'Help me' look at Pete, who grabbed his own microphone and starting talking.  

"Hey! So, uh, Elton introduced us already but I'm Pete, that's Patrick, Andy, and Joe," he said, pointing to each of them. "And yeah, we wrote this song, hope you like it. Even if you don't, cheering loudly would be appreciated, then maybe we'll get a better grade." He finished with a smirk earning a laugh from everyone. Andy counted them in and they started playing the intro. 

"Don't, panic, no not yet, I know I'm the one you want to forget," Patrick sang, nearly missing his cue. He snapped his eyes shut, and forced himself to sing louder when the chorus came on, as his singing was rather faint. He was subtly singing louder and louder, until he was at a reasonable pitch for the line " Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness get bigger, the person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger."  He didn't hear laughing or booing, so he opened his eyes, and looked over at Pete, who was beaming at him. He looked away quickly, singing most of the verse. At the line, " I will sing to you everyday, if it will take, away the pain,"  he looked directly at Pete, and smiled slightly, before gripping his guitar tighter and continuing to play. 

That was enough for him to sing confidently the rest of the song. Until the last few lines, which were going to be a capella. After he sang the last note, the audience clapped really loudly. 

Elton came back onto the stage, took the microphone Patrick handed to him, and said, "Wow let's hear it for those boys! They were great! Up next we have Gerard Way, his younger brother, Mikey Way, Bob Bryar, Ray Toro, and Frank Iero!"

~~**~~ 

Gerard heard their names be called, and stopped them briefly. "I've been thinking, and I'm not singing 'I'm not o-fucking-kay in front of all of those people. 'I'm really not okay' fits if I draw out the 'really' so that's what I'm gonna do." They all nodded, and took the stage. 

Frank introduced them similarly to how Pete did, but without the sarcastic remark. Instead he said, "Even if you think we're bad, you won't need to cheer loudly, we'll still get a great grade cuz we're grade!" He smirked, and waved sarcastically at Pete. "Right Petey?" He said, smirking wider. 

"Ignore him," Gerard deadpanned, "he's high on adrenaline. Anyway, here's our song!" Ray started strumming out the intro on his guitar, then Frank, Bob, and Mikey joined him on their separate instruments. After the intro, Gerard hopped right in with the vocals, " Well if you wanted honesty, that's all you had to say,"  he sang, Frank and Ray adding backing vocals in the right places. They made it through the whole song perfectly, until Gerard nearly slipped up on his little impromptu change. 

" No I'm no-- I'm reeaally not okay!"  He sang, nearly laughing afterwards. Frank did laugh, and slipped on a few notes. They ended the song, and Elton came out to announce Brendon, Ryan, and their friends Jon Walker and Spencer Smith. 

They were singing the song Gerard and Patrick had heard Brendon singing for Elton. Something about it being Nine In The Afternoon and drugs, probably. After the performance, they went and sat in the audience with the other students who had performed. 

"Hey you two are doing a 'solo performance' right?" Joe asked them. 

"Yup," Brendon said. "Not sure why it's called solo when they accept duets, trios, quartets, and literally any other size group." 

"Who knows?" Pete whispered. He turned to Patrick, pulled his glasses out of his pocket, and slid them onto the other boy's face so he could see the performances. 

~~**~~ 

About an hour later, Brendon and Ryan finished a song they called  Northern Downpour.  About five other people had gone and done amazing covers, and some did original songs. 

"Hey I'll be back," Patrick told Pete. He brunette placed a kiss on Patrick's knuckles, before the shorter stood up and left. 

"Well up next, we have a little surprise. Performing an original song, Mr. Patrick Stump! " Elton said. 

Frank and Pete whipped their head around to look at each other in disbelief. Patrick walked onto the stage, surprisingly with his glasses on, and took the microphone Elton handed to him. He sat on the stool that was placed on the stage. Patrick put the microphone into the stand, and sat on the stool with his guitar on his lap. 

"So I-I'm P-Patrick St-Stump," he stuttered nervously. "A-And I wrote this song. It-It doesn't have a title. It's kind of a Christmas song. Kinda."  He took a deep breath before singing. 

Throughout the whole first verse he kept his eyes closed, but when the chorus came up, he opened them and quickly found his dad in the audience. He stared right at him as he sang, " Don't come home for Christmas, you're the last thing I want to see, underneath the tree. Merry Christmas, I could care less,"  with venom detectable in his voice. He sang the rest of his song, glaring at his dad, and people noticed. They turned to look and saw his dad with a stony expression. By the time the second chorus came around, he had turned his attention to Mr. Way, and sang the same line, before looking at Mikey and Gerard sympathetically. He finished his song, and everyone was stunned. He just smiled innocently, stood up, took a sarcastic bow, before walking off the stage. 

A rather short girl with short brown hair walked on the stage with a ukulele. 

"Okay, that was a pretty big 'fuck you' to whoever it was meant to be for," another short girl, but this time with curly blondeish-brown hair and glasses said. 

"Thanks," Patrick said, smirking slightly. "It was for my dad and my friends' dad, since both are abandoning us for Christmas."

"Wow man that sucks," said another blonde girl. 

"Yeah, I'm Patrick," he said, not even feeling slightly nervous (probably from the adrenaline). 

"I'm Milly," said the one with the glasses. 

"And I'm Quinn," said the other one. 

"Oh, Milly, didn't you play ukulele with her earlier?" Patrick asked, pointing to the girl singing. 

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "It was for our music class Sam was like 'We both have Twenty One Pilots shirts on and play ukulele, wanna be a group?' so we did."

"Oh wow, you guys were really good! And Sam's a great singer!" Patrick said. 

"Thanks! And she really is. So are you dude!" Milly said. 

"Thank you," Patrick blushed. "Quinn you were good too."

"Thanks," she replied, smirking. 

"FLUFFY!" A girl with long brown hair said, before tackling Milly. 

"Hi, Renee," Milly laughed. Those two continued to talk while lying in the floor. 

"Renee...Milly...Quinn...Sam...oh you guys are those freshmen who play pranks on people all the time right?" Patrick asked, backing away, slightly afraid. 

"Yup that's us!" Quinn said with a psychotic grin. 

"We won't hurt you unless necessary, now get off me you turd!" Milly said. 

"Isn't there some rule about being quiet backstage?" A voice asked. The four of them turned and saw Pete, leaning against the wall, smirking. 

"Probably!" Milly all but screamed. Quinn jumped into the pile and clasped their hands over Milly's mouth. 

"Hey Trick, you did great!" Pete said, pushing himself off the wall and walking over to Patrick, before leaning down to kiss the other boy. 

"AWWW!" Milly, Renee, Quinn, and Sam, who had just walked off the stage, called out. 

Pete pulled away and laughed, while Patrick just blushed. 

"Yo Quinn!" Milly said. "Show time!" She grabbed a purple and black electric guitar and Quinn grabbed the microphone from Elton, and the two performed an amazing cover of Mr. Brightside by The Killers. 

"Well, Sam, Renee," Patrick said, as the other two girls closed the show. "It was nice meeting you, but I need to go find my mom. Tell those two I said nice to meet them!"

"Will do!" Sam said, waving as the two boys exited. 

"Uh your dad isn't very happy," Pete told him, lacing their fingers together. 

"Neither am I. He'll get over it," Patrick shot back. 

"That was a pretty epic song though," Pete said. 

"Thanks," Patrick blushed. 

They returned to outside the auditorium, where their friends and all the parents were waiting. Patrick's father and Mr. Way, both looked angry. Well, Mr. Stump looked more hurt. 

"Patrick can I speak to you please?" His father asked. 

"No," Patrick shot back. 

His father sighed, "Please?"

"No," The short boy repeated. They all talked to their parents for about fifteen minutes before they had to leave. 

"I'll be seeing you all soon!" Patricia said as she departed. They all nodded, super excited for the two weeks to come. 

~~**~~

"Gerard you all packed?" Ray asked the next morning. They were told to be in the pick up area by noon. It was 11:50. 

"Yup!" The flaming redhead said. "I've got all my stuff, let's go meet the others." The two roommates headed down to outside their building.

Patrick looked extremely stressed out. "Everyone had what they'll need, right?" He asked. They all nodded. "Okay, who was going again?" He looked towards Hayley for help. 

"Me, you, and Frank, obviously. Lindsey and Ashlee, as invited by me. And then you've invited Pete, Gerard, Mikey, Ray, and Bob," Hayley said. "Ten people."

"How are ten people going to fit in one car?" Pete asked. At that moment, a car pulled up next to them. 

"Alright everyone!" Hayley said, ignoring the brunette boy's question. "Stuff goes in this car wherever it'll fit."

"What about us?" Mikey asked. 

"That's for us," Frank said, pointing to a huge, jet black, stretch limo. 

"ALL ABOARD!" Patrick and Hayley said in a Ozzy Osbourne  Crazy Train  impression. They even did the little psychotic laugh. 

"I may have forgotten to mention," Patrick told them sheepishly once they were all in and the link had driven off. "My mom's kinda rich. Like 'we live in a giant house, afford boarding school for three kids, payed for a huge adoption court thing, have limos that can pick us up places, and hired staff' type of rich."

"Holy shit," Pete, Mikey, and Gerard breathed out, never having the 'Stump Experience' before. 

This should be an interesting week,  Pete though, leaning back in his seat and wrapping an arm around Patrick's shoulders. 

 


	11. The No Romo Homo Squad

"WELCOME TO CASA DE STUMP BITCHES!" Frank screamed, once the limo stopped. 

"Holy fucking shit," Mikey breathed out. 

"Holy fucking shit is right Mikey," Pete agreed, "look at this place!" They weren't even out of the limo yet, but they could see how big the house really was, about three floors, and had two wings on either side of the main house. They saw three people walk out of the house, as Patrick opened the limo door and climbed out. 

"Mom!" He called, running towards his mother and hugging her. 

"Hey kiddo!" She said, ruffling his hair. 

Frank and Hayley both ran over and hugged her too. Patrick turned and saw that one of the people who was with her was Alice, a woman who used to be their nanny, but now that they were older, she was just a housekeeper. Patrick hugged her anyway, she was like a second mother to him, and Frank and Hayley did the same.  

Mikey, Gerard, Lindsey, Ashlee, and Bob exited the limo next and walked over to where they were standing. 

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING DUDE?" Ray screamed from inside the vehicle. There was a murmured reply from Pete and then another scream from Ray. "DUDE HIS MOTHER ISN'T GOING TO MURDER YOU BECAUSE OF THE HAYLEY THING JESUS CHRIST SHE DIDN'T LAST TIME YOU SAW HER AND SHE WON'T THIS TIME!" He climbed out of the vehicle and Ms. Stump let out a laugh. 

"Always great to see you, Ray," she chuckled. 

"You too Patricia," Ray said, nodding once, before screaming "PETE GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" 

Pete's head finally popped out of the limo, and as he tried to step out he fell on his face on the cement.  "FUCK!" He yelped. 

Patrick ran over to him and helped him up. "Are -- are you -- are you okay?" He asked between fits of giggles. 

"It's not funny!" Pete groaned. 

"Dude that was the greatest thing I've ever seen," Mikey called. 

Pete groaned again, as Patrick led him over to where everyone else was waiting. 

"Come on then," Patricia said. "So for rooms, Pete will be with Patrick in his, Gerard with Frank in his, Lindsey and Ashlee in one guest room, Mikey and Ray in another, and then Bob by himself like usual when you're all here. Also, first one to the guest rooms get the biggest one, GO!" She shouted and Lindsey, Ashlee, Bob, Ray, and Mikey, who was being led by Ray, ran inside. "Oh I just love doing that. Anyway, you boys want to show them around?" She asked Patrick and Frank. "All the stuff people brought will be put in their rooms. Yours included, go on." 

Frank grabbed Gerard's hand and, without warning, ran off, dragging Gerard behind him. 

"Come on slowpoke!" He shouted, dropping Gerard's hand and continuing to run. He didn't go through the door, but instead around the side of the house. Gerard followed him until they got to a magnificent garden. 

"Holy shit that's beautiful," Gerard panted, out of breath from the run. 

"It's my favorite spot. Cliche, I know," Frank said. 

"I love it," Gerard told him. Frank took his hand and led him through the garden. They walked through it for about fifteen minutes before getting cold. Frank led them back out and inside the house. 

"Okay so east wing is that way, that's where my room is, I'll show you that later," He said, pointing directly in front of them. "The kitchen, the kitchen we're allowed in, the living room we'll mainly use, and some bathrooms are in the west wing."

"Two kitchens?" Gerard asked. 

"Well there's staff who use one and make dinner in and stuff, Patricia helps them, she loves cooking and is super sweet to all of them. And the other we make breakfast, lunch, and snacks in for ourselves." He showed him all of the rooms that there were in the middle section of the house, mainly other living areas, Patricia's bedroom, an office,

and a music room. Then he led him to the kitchens, showed him where the bathrooms were, and stopped in the living room they mainly used. Frank flopped onto one of the couched and Gerard joined him. 

The redhead turned towards his boyfriend and gently pressed his lips against the latter's. Frank eagerly kissed back, before parting his lips and licking along Gerard's bottom lip, causing Gee to slightly open his mouth.

~~**~~

They all went to the non-formal dining room for dinner that night. Patricia sat at the head of the table, while the ten teenagers were sat on either side.  

"So a few rules for you guys," she said. "No sex. If I hear you having sex -- you know what? Just don't have sex."

"You'll get pregnant and die!" Ashlee screeched, causing Pete and Ray to die laughing. Patrick and Lindsey just face palmed and groaned. 

"Okay but that's only if you hear us," Frank said. "What if we just do it quietly?"

"Mother instincts will tell me you did the sex. You will then sleep in the backyard," Patricia shot back. 

"Okay but then Gerard and I will just fuck in the backyard," Frank pointed out. 

"No,  you will sleep in the backyard, Gerard will stay inside in your nice warm room," Patricia told him, smirking. 

"Okay, okay, no sex," Frank conceded. 

Two guys entered the room and placed different plates of food ok the table. 

"Hey Austin, hey Alan," Patrick said waving to the two. 

"Hey kid!" The one called Alan said, ruffling Patrick's hair. 

"Yo it's the No Romo Homo Squad!" Frank yelled, causing the two men, Patrick, Hayley, and Patricia to laugh. 

"They're both aromantic homosexuals so Frank calls them that," Hayley explained. 

"Oh, makes sense," Bob told her. 

~~**~~ 

"So what does your mom do for like work?" Pete asked Patrick after dinner when they were in the living room with everyone else. 

"Uh...I don't actually know. Some government thing maybe?" Patrick said, shrugging, before flopping over and laying his head in Pete's lap. He plopped his legs down on Frank's lap. 

"Guys we need something to do," Gerard whined. "I'm bored."    
  
"Let's watch a movie or something," Pete suggested.    
  
"LET'S WATCH THE MOST STEREOTYPICAL GAY MOVIE EVER! PATRICK KNOWS WHAT I MEAN!" Frank shrieked.    
  
"HELL YES LET'S WATCH GBF EVEN THOUGH IT'S KINDA OFFENSIVE!" Patrick yelled, sitting up and high-fiving Frank.

"YO THAT MOVIE IS PERFECT!" Lindsey shrieked. 

They all turned to watch the movie, as Hayley logged into Netflix. Patrick turned so his head was sideways in Pete's lap, and curled his legs up next to him. 

Once the movie ended, Ashlee turned to Patrick and asked, "Will you be my GBF Patrick?" 

"Okay no, but seriously Gerard would make the best GBF out of all of us homos," Patrick replied, yawning. 

"Hey!" Gerard huffed. 

"You're the most flamboyant," Patrick explained tiredly. He yawned again. 

"Aw yawning Patrick is so cute!" Ashlee squealed. 

"Mine," Pete deadpanned, wrapping an arm around the almost asleep teen. 

"Hmmmmhmmhmhmhmhmmm," Patrick grumbled, before yawning again. They all laughed, except Mikey, who was asleep on the floor. 

"Okay come on, go to sleep," Pete said. "Like in your room and shit." Patrick shook his head and wrapped his arms around Pete's legs. Pete rolled his eyes, pulled Patrick into his arms, and stood up, carrying him. "Night guys."

"Night Pete," they all echoed back. He left the room, carrying the shorter boy, who cuddled into his chest. 

"Trick I don't know where I'm going, you need to wake up a bit," he told him. 

Patrick groaned and opened his eyes, giving Pete instructions. Thankfully, he was already wearing a pair of Batman pajama pants and an oversized grey t-shirt, so once Pete finally found his room, all he had to do was set him down on the bed. 

Patrick immediately spread out over the middle of the bed, and when Pete came back from the bathroom, he just sat on the edge of the bed and poked Patrick's side. 

"Trick. Lunchbox. Rickster. Mooooooove oooooveeeerrrrrr," he whined. 

Patrick just grumbled before rolling onto his side, facing Pete. He opened his arms towards Pete, who just giggled and lay next to him. With his eyes still shut, he reached out and pulled the brunette closer to him. 

~~**~~

Gerard woke up alone in Frank's bed. Still half asleep, he stumbled out of the room and towards the kitchen where he heard voices and could smell pancakes and coffee. He made his way into the room, yawning. 

"Morning Gerard," he heard Patrick say. He turned and saw the blonde sitting cross-legged on the counter with a mug of coffee in his hand. 

"Morning. Hey Hayley, hey Mikes," Gerard greeted the rest of them. He walked over to Frank, who was standing in front of the stove holding a frying pan and flipping pancakes. He wrapped his arms around the shorter boy's waist, and rested his forehead on his shoulder. 

"Morning Frankie," he yawned. 

"Hey Gee," Frank replied. "Coffee's over there." He gestured with the spatula towards the coffee pot. 

Gerard kissed his cheek and headed over to the coffee pot as a shirtless Pete entered the kitchen. Frank sarcastically wolf-whistled and Pete flipped him off while yawning. He then hopped up into the counter next to Patrick and stole his coffee, before resting his head on his shoulder. 

"Yeah I totally wasn't drinking that," Patrick sassed. 

"But now I am," Pete replied. Patrick just laughed and wrapped an arm around Pete's shoulder blades. Pete yawned and rubbed his eyes before fully waking up. "PANCAKES HELL YES!" He squealed, trying to jump off the counter. Patrick wrapped both arms around his waist and held him back. 

"Not yet, they're not done," he said and Pete pouted. 

"Boo, I'm hungry," he whined, before Patrick shoved a piece of toast into Pete's face. The latter happily ate the bread, before handing Patrick his empty mug. Patrick glared at him, before turning and refilling his mug, and grabbing one for Pete. 

"Well I made like fifteen so the others are on their own," Frank said, handing everyone a plate of a few pancakes. They all dug into their pancakes as Ray, Lindsey, and Bob walked into the room. 

"Are there any pancakes left?" Ray asked. 

"What pancakes?" Gerard inquire as he took a bite of his own. Ray flipped him off and started to make toast and microwave bacon. 

"Microwave bacon is a godsend," Ray sighed. "Like fifteen seconds and bam! Bacon." 

"You're weird," Bob told him. 

Ray just shrugged, hands Bob some bacon and as they were about to eat it, Frank screamed, "THINK OF THE POOR INNOCENT PIG THAT WAS KILLED FOR YOUR BACON!" causing Pete to nearly spill coffee on Patrick, and Bob to jump. The two just shrugged and continued eating the bacon. 

"Those poor pigs," Pete muttered before literally bursting into tears. 

They all stopped for a second really confused, before Mikey asked, "Did you take your meds?"

Pete shook his head from where he was sobbing into Patrick's shoulder. Patrick moved off the counter had took one of Pete's hands leading him out of the kitchen. 

"That happens a lot in the morning when he forgets," Mikey explained. "Usually he'll wake up and not take them and be really emotional." Everyone just nodded, before Ashlee walked downstairs and asked why Pete was sobbing hysterically into Patrick's shoulder. They explained to her and she nodded sympathetically. 

~~**~~

"Come on Pete," Patrick pleaded. "Just take them and that'll be it."

"I don't wanna!" He pouted like a child. 

"Peter," Patrick commanded. 

"Ugh fine!" Pete huffed, before ripping the pills out of Patrick's hand and swallowing them. 

"Yay!" Patrick cheered slightly, before leaning forward to gently kiss Pete, who grinned against his lips. The taller of the two moved his hands into Patrick's hair, and ran his fingers through the locks. Patrick wrapped his arms around Pete's waist, and giggled slightly. 

"I have a surprise," Patrick mumbled against Pete's lips once the kiss broke. "Hayley and I were working on a song that I wanna show you." 

"Yay, coolio," Pete replied, before pecking Patrick's lips once, twice, three times, until he managed to pull away. 

Patrick picked Pete up causing the latter to scream a little. Patrick giggled and walked to the music room, still carrying Pete. Hayley and the others were there when they walked in and Patrick set Pete down. The strawberry blonde grabbed an acoustic guitar and started playing. Hayley started singing the lyrics they had written, " When I was younger, I saw my daddy cry, and curse at the wind, he broke his own heart, and I watched, as he tried to reassemble it." 

Patrick picked up with the next line, " And my momma swore, that she would never let herself forget, and that was the day that I promised, I'd never sing of love, if it does not exist, but darlin', " before they both sang the chorus, " You are, the only exception, you are, the only exception, you are, the only exception, you are, the only exception ." The continued on singing in that format, before the song ended.    
  


Everyone of their friends clapped and cheered over dramatically, and Patrick's mom knocked on the door. 

"Patrick sweetie, please come out here for a second," she asked. Patrick out his guitar down and walked in the hallway. 

His father was standing there. 

"I'll leave you two alone," Patricia said, before retreating into the music room. 

She explained to everyone else what was happening and Pete looked pissed. "Just let Patrick deal with it," Patricia commanded him. He just nodded in reply, before resuming sitting on the floor. 

"YOU'RE PART OF THE REASON I HAVE ANXIETY!" They all heard Patrick scream a few minutes later. "YOU EMOTIONALLY AND VERBALLY ABUSED ME FOR MONTHS AND THEN THAT FIRE HAPPENED AND THAT'S WHY I HAVE ANXIETY! YOU'RE THE REASON I HAVE NIGHTMARES AND FUCKING PANIC ATTACKS YOU ASSHOLE!" 

**  
There was a brief silence, the sound of a fist meeting skin, a gasp, a crash, and finally, a blood curdling scream.  **


	12. Take Me From The Hospital Bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter but next one will probably be much longer!

Pete threw the door open, and ran into the hallway, coming upon an unexpected scene. Patrick was sitting slouched against the wall, with his hands clutching his...bleeding stomach.

"Oh god! Trick!" Pete shrieked hysterically running over to his boyfriend.

"I-I'm f-fine, i-it's not a d-deep c-c-cut," Patrick insisted. Patricia came running from the music room after Pete, and screamed at the sight. The brunette teen turned, to see David, Patrick's father, lying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood and broken glass from what appeared to be a vase. The others came running out, but Patricia shooed them away, and followed them out, telling Pete she was calling an ambulance and the police.

"N-No d-don't I-I can't talk to them p-properly p-please no!" Patrick shrieked, shaking and breathing hard.

"Tricky calm down, breath okay? Can you tell me what happened? Please?" Pete insisted, grabbing a towel that Patricia threw to him when she ran back into the room. He pressed it to the gash on Patrick's stomach, causing him to gasp in pain, as his mother exited again.

"H-He punched me, that's why my nose is bleeding and my eye's all puffy. And then h-he p-pulled out a p-pocket knife and he -- oh god he tried to kill me!" Patrick sobbed, tears streaming down his face. "H-He's drunk or s-something and told me he was gonna kill me for embarrassing him. I-I pushed him, he hit the table and...he cut his head open on it and now...oh god the vase fell on him and he's unconscious I think I killed him oh god he's dead. I killed someone!" Patrick rushed out, before panicking even more. Pete looked over his shoulder at David, whose chest was rising and falling -- thank god.

"No, he's breathing he's alive okay? He's not dead, you didn't kill anyone," Pete reassured him.

"Okay, oh my god he's going to kill me Pete! He's gonna -- kill me," he muttered, before his eyes fluttered shut.

"Patrick stay awake! Patrick wake up!" Pete screamed. "Please open your eyes!" Patrick's eyes snapped open, before drooping again. There was the faint sound of sirens in the background, that were quickly getting louder. Patrick slumped forward, and Pete pulled him into his lap, cradling him against his chest, while maintaining pressure on the towel pressed to his cut. "Stay awake okay? Talk to me, keep talking to me," Pete insisted.

"I love you, so much Pete," Patrick muttered weakly.

"Tell me why," Pete pleaded, tears running down his face, matching Patrick's. "Tell me why you love me, focus on that, focus on staying awake. You're passing out from shock, don't pass out, please!"

"Your eyes, they're beautiful," Patrick whispered, staring up from Pete's lap.

"They're brown," Pete laughed.

"They're whiskey colored and reflect the sun so well...that's why I wrote the 'hot whiskey eyes' part in our song. I thought of a title for it. Miss Missing You. I feel it fits," he said, before groaning in pain, as his eyes fluttered shut.

"Trick, keep talking to me, please," Pete begged.

"I love...how great you are at writing lyrics. You're not afraid to show everyone you love me. You make me feel beautiful, Pete. Thank you so much, for that," Patrick choked out, before passing out.

It's just from shock and not blood loss, he's not going to die, Pete had to assure himself. Patricia came running in, followed by four paramedics with two stretchers. When they picked him up, he gasped, and his eyes fluttered open. Patrick latched onto Pete's hand surprisingly tightly.

"Don't leave," he whispered hoarsely. "Please don't go."

"I'll try as hard as I can to stay with you as long as I can," Pete promised.

"You can ride with him in the ambulance," one of the paramedics told him. She looked at Patricia, who nodded her approval. "One of the police officers will be with us too. And...Patrick was it?" Patricia nodded again. "Patrick will need to tell them what happened."

"No! N-No oh god no!" Patrick shrieked.

"He told me everything, I'll tell you exactly what he told me, he's panicking, don't make him relive that," Pete told her. She nodded and led them out to one of the ambulances. A male police officer was waiting by it, and climbed in once the gurney, Pete, and the paramedic were all in. The paramedic started hooking Patrick up to different things, and told the officer to speak with Pete.

"He told me everything that happened. His anxiety is too bad for him to relive that," Pete explained, and Patrick reattached his hand to Pete's. "He said something about his dad being embarrassed of what he did. I'm not sure what that means, but David, his dad, was drunk, and acted like he wasn't until he was alone in the hallway with Patrick. The rest of us were in the music room, just on the other side of a door. We heard him scream, mind my language, 'You're part of the reason I have anxiety! You emotionally and verbally abused me for months and then that fire happened and that's why I have anxiety! You're the reason I have nightmares and fucking panic attacks you asshole!' There had been a fire in a restaurant he was in when he was like twelve or so. And then it was quiet, then I heard a punch, a gasp, a crash, and a scream. I ran into the hall, and he was there, and his father had tried to stab him. David wants him dead, he tried to kill Patrick. Who then nearly passed out from anxiety. But before that, he pushed David away in self-defense, causing him to fall into a table, hit his head, and have a glass vase  break into his skull."

The officer nodded, and finished writing down everything Pete told him, before asking, "And what relation do you have to Patrick here?"

"He's my boyfriend," Patrick croaked out, and Pete kissed his knuckles gently.

"Okay, good to know," the officer nodded.

"Alright Patrick, we're nearly there, and we're going to take you straight in to get stitches, it'll be easier on you if we give you the anesthetic now," one of the paramedics told him.

"O-Okay," Patrick gulped, squeezing Pete's hand. They inserted the needle into his IV, and pressed down on the plunger. "Love you," he muttered tiredly.

"Love you too," Pete told him. The other boy smiled slightly before falling unconscious.

~~**~~

Pete was in the waiting room, waiting for Patricia and the others. He had talked with a police officer about any solid evidence, and Pete told him Patricia had installed security cameras just in case and would bring over the footage, along with the kids, once she got it. "Pete?" He heard. The brunette whipped around, and saw everyone else behind him.

"Hey guys," he smiled back weakly.

"How's Patrick doing?" Frank asked, concern lacing his voice, as he bit at his nails.

"Don't know, haven't seen him yet," Pete sighed, running a hand through his hair yet again. Mikey wordlessly walked over to him and hugged him tightly. Pete gulped and drew in a shuddering breath, before crying again. He rest his head on Mikey's shoulder, and his tears were staining the fabric slightly.

"He'll be okay," Mikey whispered. Pete just nodded against his friend's shoulder, before pulling away and wiping his eyes.

"You're all here for Patrick Stump correct?" A doctor asked them. They all nodded. "You can come back here, we can't let you into the room yet, but you can wait outside it if you'd like." They followed him into the hallway outside Patrick's room, and Pete sat leaning against the wall opposite, and was just able to see Patrick through the windows by the door. The others all sat next to him on a long, padded bench that was outside the room, and Frank rest his head on Gerard's shoulder.

"I'm so worried," Frank whispered.

"I know Frankie," Gerard whispered, kissing the top of his boyfriend's head and wrapping an arm around his shoulder, resting his own head on top of Frank's.

The ten of them sat there for about an hour, before each of them, except Pete and Patricia, managed to fall asleep. The same doctor came back out, noticing everyone asleep and smiling slightly. "He should be awake in about ten minutes, you can both go in now if you'd like."

"Pete, why don't you go alone?" Patricia told him.

"But, you're his mother. You should see him," Pete told her.

"Someone needs to watch these guys, and besides, I still have to give the tape to an officer and give my statement. You go on in," Patricia smiled sweetly. Pete beamed and followed the doctor into the room. It was already about ten o'clock, as Patrick had spent quite some time arguing with Pete over his medicine before they went into the music room, and it had been about two hours since the incident.

"He should be good when he wakes up, just have him be careful with his stitches. Patrick lost quite a lot of blood, the cut was so much deeper than he thought. He will come out from the anesthesia possibly a little out of it or act really childish and probably want to sleep soon after. No need to call any of us once he wakes up," the doctor told him.

"Okay," Pete nodded. The doctor left the room, and Pete went to sit in the chair next to Patrick's bed. The brunette twined their fingers together, before testing his forehead on the mattress next to Patrick's side.

"P-Pete?" Pete heard. His head shot up, and Patrick's eyes were still closed.

"Lunchbox?" He asked.

"P-Pete!" Patrick shrieked, before his eyes snapped open. "Oh, hey Pete," he said. "Pete!" He screamed happily, before attempting to hug the other boy. "Ow! Stomach hurts!" He whined.

"Be careful with your stitches!" Pete warned.

"Sowwy," he muttered like a little kid, pronouncing the 'r's as 'w's and sticking his lower lip out. He looked at Pete with large puppy eyes.

"It's okay," Pete told him, running a hand through his hair. Patrick sighed happily, before yawning really widely. He opened his arms to Pete, who crawled into the bed and curled up next to him. "Why were you screaming before you woke up?"

"I don't know, what did I say?" Patrick asked.

"You called for me."

"Oh...I guess I just wanted to make sure you'd be here like you told me you would," Patrick yawned.

"Of course I would be. Now get some sleep, okay?" Pete told him. Patrick nodded, and pulled Pete against his chest. Patrick wasn't able to curl up on his side like usual, so Pete was lying on his side with his head on the other's chest. "I love you."

"Mm love you too," Patrick whispered, before falling asleep.

~~**~~

"WAKE UP LOVEBIRDS!" An unfamiliar voice shouted.

"DUDE SHUT UP!" Frank screamed. Pete groaned and opened his eyes. Patrick was somehow still asleep, and Pete noticed someone he didn't recognize standing at the foot of the bed.

"Hey! Are you Pete? You're probably Pete, I mean, Pete's his boyfriend and you're cuddling Patrick, who wouldn't do that with anyone but his boyfriend," the guy rambled.

"Uh, yeah? I'm Pete...who are you?" He asked, just as Patrick woke up. Pete climbed off the bed, as Patricia walked into the room at that moment as well. She was extremely over protective and would glare at Pete if he was in bed with Patrick, or fangirl wildly.

"Alex!" Patrick called happily.

"PATRICK MY BRO WHAT'S UP MAN?" The guy, probably Alex, shouted, rushing forward to hug Patrick.

"You know, just got stabbed by my dad. No big deal," Patrick sassed.

"Oh yeah...sorry about that dude. Oh! Jack's here to!" Alex shouted, running out of the room, causing his grey beanie to fall out of his brown hair.

"What the fuck?" Gerard asked. Pete and Mikey just looked at Patrick with 'what the fuck' looks on their faces.

"That's Alex," Patrick laughed. "He's one of my friends from my neighborhood." Pete pouted, and went over to the window, sulking. "Pete! He's just a friend! Besides he's totally dating another guy, Jack, my other friend."

"Wait...Jack?" Pete asked, whipping around as Alex returned with another boy who had brown and bleach blonde hair sticking up in every direction.

"Oh my god! Pete! Mikeyway! Gerard!" Jack shouted, beaming, before pulling all three of them into a huge group hug.

"BARAKAT WHAT'S UP BITCH?" Pete screamed.

"NOTHING MUCH PRETZEL!" He screamed at Pete, ruffling his fringe. Pete squealed, and dove behind Mikey.

"Don't touch the fucking hair," he growled.

"You guys know each other?" Alex asked.

"Yup! He moved away a few years ago, but we were great friends," Gerard beamed.

"Small world," Patrick chuckled.

"IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!" Frank and Hayley sang in high pitched voices, like the annoying ride at Disneyland.

"NO.  STOP! My ears!" Patrick shouted.

"Oh, I have better music, give me a second!" Frank told him. After a minute, Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up started playing.

"YOU JUST RICK ROLLED ME?" Patrick screamed. "Haven't I been through enough?" He whine melodramatically. "I'm gonna get you Iero!"

"No you won't!" Frank giggled, poking Patrick's nose.

**  
** "Don't believe me? Just watch," Patrick threatened.


	13. *Screamo Voice* All I Want For Christmas Is You

Patrick was released from the hospital two days later, with instruction to be very careful of his stitches. David woke up the night previous and was arrested on the spot with the charge of attempted murder of his son. There was to be a trial at the end of the week, and he would most likely be found guilty. David didn't even have any memory of what happened because of the alcohol, but as he was being dragged out of the hospital in handcuffs he was screaming at Patrick about how he deserved what happened. That caused Patrick to cry himself to sleep in Pete's arms on that second night.

"Come on Trick, you need to be awake to walk inside," Pete joked.

"Don't wanna," Patrick grumbled, wrapping his arms tighter around Pete's stomach.

"Literally wake up for two minutes, then you can sleep," Pete told him. Patrick just mumbled something and yawned as they walked up the pathway to Patrick's front door. Pete opened the door and the two of them were instantly bombarded by the rest of their friends.

"Sleeeeeeep," Patrick whined, causing them all to laugh.

"Go to your room then dude," Pete laughed.

"Cuddle?" He pouted, shooting his puppy eyes at Pete.

"Give me two minutes," Pete smiled. Patrick lazily kissed his cheek and trudged off to his room. Pete kicked his shoes off, and was about to say something when Mikey cut him off.

"Booty calls, Pete," he teased.

"Was that a fucking play on 'duty calls' you shit?" Pete laughed. Mikey smirked, and ran back to the living room. The others rolled their eyes and followed him. Pete went to Patrick's room and found the strawberry blonde boy sitting on his bed, wide awake, holding a small, tan dog to his chest, with his nose buried into the fur of its neck.

"That's Penny, right?" Pete asked. Patrick nodded and smiled slightly. "I've been here like three days, how have I not seen her yet?" Patrick just shrugged.

"She's fluffy," he muttered. Pete laughed and went to sit next to him. Patrick placed the dog into his boyfriend's lap, before falling back against the bed. Pete looked down at him, and saw he had fallen asleep. The boy who was still awake took of the other's glasses, placed them on the nightstand, and lay down himself. Penny leaped off of Pete's legs and went to lie against Patrick, who was asleep on his side. Pete laughed quietly as he shut off the light.

~~**~~

"Psst. Pssssst. Gerard," Frank stage-whispered.

"What?" Gerard replied in a similar tone.

"Can you come to the mall with me to help me buy a gift for Mikey," he continued in the loud whisper.

Mikey, who was also in the room, along with Ray, Hayley, and Ashlee (Bob and Lindsey were "adding the finishing touches to Gerard's gift," as they put it), turned to look at the pair oddly, and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah let's go," Gerard laughed.

They decided to get a ride from Alan, with permission from Patricia. "I'll be back in like two hours," Alan said, dropping them off outside the mall.

Gerard grabbed Frank's hand and led him to the music store. Well he tried to but got lost, so Frank led them to the right place.

"So what should I get Mikey?" Frank asked.

Gerard grabbed an Anthrax CD and handed it to him. "This is the only one he doesn't have and he's been dying to get it. Ray was going to get it for him but couldn't find it and got him a shirt instead."

"Oh nice. Also I need a present to get Pete," Frank said. "Dammit." Gerard handed him a plain, black bass strap, one that Pete had needed. "Sweet. Thanks Gee!" Frank beamed, walking over to the register and buying the items. "So now we've got the rest of the time to do whatever. YO LET'S GO TO THE FOOD COURT!" Frank shouted, locking his hand together with his boyfriend's, dragging the red head out of the store.

"Hey uh...you guys go to Pencey Prep right?" They heard a male voice ask. The two turned around and saw a boy and a girl, who couldn't be older than thirteen. Both had green eyes and blonde hair and were similar heights. "You're Frank Way and Gerard Iero right?"

"Uh, Gerard Way and Frank Iero," Gerard corrected.

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, you two are dating right?" The boy asked.

"Yup, for about two months," Frank answered.

"See?" The blonde asked, turning towards his sister. "It's perfectly okay!"

"Yeah for guys! People don't accept girls and it's stupid!" The girl huffed.

"Girls dating other girls is pretty accepted," Frank argued.

"Yeah, because 'lesbian' is a well liked porn category," the girl argued.

"Oh come on!" Her brother argued. "It's totally fine! I'm pan, no one cares! They won't care that you are too!"

"My brother and his boyfriend are both pansexual, so is one of our friends, she's pretty cool and no one cared," Gerard told her.

"Yeah...well thanks you guys, I think I'm gonna come out when school gets back in," the girl replied.

"You guys freshmen?" Frank asked.

"Nope, we go to the lower school part of Pencey. We're both in eighth grade. I'm Kayler, this is Kayley," the boy said.

"Oh I've heard of you guys!" Frank realized, "You hang out with those freshmen Patrick mentioned...uh, Sam, Quinn, Renée, and Milly I think it was."

"Yeah that's them," Kayley laughed. "They're pretty well known since they're  just little shits."

"That's true," Gerard laughed. "But Quinn punched someone for me and Milly sasses someone in my art class so they're pretty awesome little shits."

"Yeah they are," Kayler agreed. "We gotta go now, see you guys in a week and a half maybe?"

"Maybe, nice meeting you guys!" Frank waved at the pair as they left. "They were nice, I'm glad we helped Kayley."

"Same here," Gerard agreed.

~~**~~

Christmas Day came two days later. Patricia and the remaining teenagers gathered under the huge tree in the living room. Bob, Ray, and Ashlee all had to go home for Christmas, but Gerard, Pete, Mikey, and Lindsey were able to stay. Bob wasn't able to present the "huge gift" he and Lindsey made for Gerard, so the honor was all Lindsey's.

"Right so I'm just gonna grab random presents and hand them out in no particular order," Patricia told them, situating herself right next to the tree.

She grabbed a really small box, and Pete immediately screamed, "NO NOT THAT ONE, THAT ONE GOES LAST, PLEASE!" startling Patrick, who was in front of him, leaning against his chest, with Pete's arms around his waist. Patricia just raised her eyebrows and put it back, replacing it with a medium sized red box.

"This ones for Mikey from Ray," she said. Mikey took the box when it was handed to him and opened it to reveal the Anthrax shirt Gerard told Frank about. Mikey beamed, placing the short behind him.

"Oh hang on there's something else," Mikey muttered, pulling out a silver chasing with a silver spider-shaped pendant on the end. He flipped the pendant over and blushed.

"WOAH MIKEYWAY IS BLUSHING!" Pete cackled. "What does it say?" He teased.

"Nothing..." He blushed. Gerard took out his phone and took a picture of brother and sent it on snapchat to Ray with the caption 'the fuck does it say?'  

"Either you tell me or Ray does," Gerard teased.

"'I love you WAY more than I probably should, Mikes'," Mikey read, blushing even harder.

"A FRICKING PUN? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Gerard laughed. The others joined in as Mikey pulled it over his head and sent a snapchat of it to Ray.

"Next we have...to Pete from Patrick. And there's a smaller one and a larger one -- SHUT UP YOU DIRTY MINDED CHILD!" Patricia laughed, lightly hitting Hayley on the head.

"Open the top box first," Patrick told him.

"So you're admitting I top?" Pete smirked, as he unwrapped the smaller package.

"Pete, you're a fricking bottom," Patrick deadpanned, causing the boy he was leaning against to laugh.

Pete unwrapped the box and was met with an...eyeliner pencil. "Thanks," he chuckled. The side of it said 'it's not eyeliner, it's guyliner,' causing Pete to burst out laughing. He moved to open the smaller box, revealing a dark purple hoodie with the weird black bat-heart thing Pete had on some of his clothes.

"I had to get Gerard to paint that on with like permanent fabric dye," Patrick told him. "What even is that bat thing anyway?"

"It's a symbol my dad has for his music company," Pete explained.

"Oh my god your dad is Peter Wentz! Head of Wentz Records!" Patrick realized. "How did I not realize that?" He muttered.

"How did none of us get that?" Hayley questioned.

"Well maybe it wasn't mentioned before because new plot ideas were needed by this point in the story," Pete told them.

"That's a good point," Patricia agreed. The next gift was Mikey giving Gerard a new sketchbook and illustrating pens. Gerard then ended up giving Mikey a Metallica vinyl right afterwards. Patrick and Pete gave a joined gift to Frank, just to piss him off.

"We bought you this gift and we hope you like it," Patrick sassed.

"I actually hate you," Frank groaned. The two laughed as he opened up the present, which was the entire discography of Blink-182 on CDs. "Okay never mind I love you both!" He screamed, removing himself from Gerard's arms and tackling the pair.

"You better! That shit was expensive!" Pete grinned, earning an elbow to the ribs from Patrick. Frank went back over to his boyfriend, as Gerard was about to give him his present.

"Okay, right so uh..." Gerard started, holding a flat package. "Merry Christmas and shit, I painted you a thing." Frank laughed as Gerard handed him the rather large painting. He slowly took the wrapping paper off and gasped once it was all gone.

"Holy shit," he muttered, holding the canvas right out in front of him. It was a painting of the two of them, done in black and white, with red splattered throughout it. "It's beautiful oh my god."

"I call it 'Demolition Lovers'," Gerard told him. Frank beamed at him and set the canvas down, before diving forward and smashing his lips against Gerard's.

"EW PDA!" Mikey screamed, throwing a pillow at his brother. Frank pulled back and laughed as he sat back down.

The rest of the gifts were given out except for the mysterious small box Pete made go last.

"Right okay, Trick this is your present and um..." Pete told him, moving to sit in front of his boyfriend as he handed him the gift. Patrick removed the lid, and smiled.

"Guitar picks. Thanks Petey," he smiled.

"Um...look what they say," Pete told him. Patrick raised his eyebrows but pulled one of the translucent reddish orange  picks out and looked at it.

"'PVS'. My initials?" He questioned, before flipping it over. His face softened and he blushed majorly.

"What's on the other side?" Frank teased.

"His initials," Patrick mumbled, before laughing. "'PLKW III,' I'm surprised it fit on the pick," he teased.

Pete laughed, "All of them have that on them. And...one's a necklace." Patrick pulled out the one that was on a chain, and clasped it around his neck, blushing a lot.

"Aw," Hayley teased. "When you two get married it's going to sound like freaking British royalty oh my god."

"Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz the Third and Patrick Vaughn Stump," Lindsey said in a posh British accent.

"'When'," Pete said, putting air quotes around the word. "I love how sure you guys are. I mean, we probably will, but hey, who knows? Only if Pattycakes can put up with me forever," Pete laughed.

"I probably can," Patrick teased, smiling and sticking his tongue out at Pete.

~~**~~

They were all hanging out the night after New Year's, the night before they went back to school. Frank and Gerard had gone and seen Green Day, with the tickets Frank got for his birthday, and even met them and Frank cried a little when he got to hug Billie Joe Armstrong Lindsey had suggested they play drunk truth or dare and they all agreed for some reason.

"Okay so Pete, truth or dare?" Frank asked.   
  
"Truth," Pete replied.   
  
"Hmm...ah hah! Are you still a virgin?" Frank asked. Patrick turned to look at his boyfriend with his eyebrow raised.   
  
"Uh no actually," he replied honestly. "I'm not a virgin."  
  
"Who was your first?" Patrick asked.    
  
"Not my turn anymore...uh Patrick, truth or dare?" Pete asked, before taking a shot.   
  
"Dare," Patrick replied.   
  
"I dare you to...lick the floor," Pete smirked.   
  
Patrick did just that, and then said, "Pete truth or dare? Oh you picked truth. Who was your first?" He demanded.   
  
"Why does it matter?" Pete sighed.   
  
"I'm just curious," Patrick replied, shooting puppy dog eyes at Pete, before taking a drink of his water, as he refused to get drunk.

  
Pete sighed again, "It was Mikey, okay?" He told them, causing Patrick to spit out his water.   
  
"M-Mikey? But he refused to admit he was at least half homo until like...October! And you two...?" Patrick stammered. "Ew oh, god I didn't need that image in my head oh god ew."   
  
"I told you you didn't want to know."  
  
"Okay but..." Hayley said. "Mikey, Patrick had a point."  
  
"I was drunk and...well when you can't see too well, Pete looks like a lady," Mikey told them, causing Patrick to choke on more water.   
  
"You...you fucked Pete when you thought he was a girl?" Lindsey asked, before everyone burst into laughter.   
  
"How long ago was it?" Patrick asked.   
  
"Six months before we transferred to Pencey..." Pete told him. "My hair was even longer and...okay I had eyeliner and shit on and a hoodie so I guess I could've looked like a girl."  
  
"And you were wearing girl's jeans," Mikey reminded him, earning popcorn to be thrown at him by Pete.   
  
"Did you...have feelings for Mikey?" Patrick asked, looking upset.   
  
"I did. Not anymore, I swear," Pete told him sincerely.   
  
"Good, mine," Patrick pouted, before crashing their lips together. Pete gasped in surprise, before kissing back just as passionately. Patrick smirked, before pulling away, probably because Frank had started throwing popcorn at him. "Mine," he repeated, before resting his head on Pete's shoulder and glaring at Mikey.   
  
Mikey just shrugged, and said, "Ray's mine."  
  
"Ew too many couples," Hayley said, fake gagging.   
  
"Agreed," Lindsey said, taking a shot of the vodka in front of her. Gerard, who also refused to drink, nodded in agreement before drinking his water.

"Okay but...how many times have you had sex?" Patrick asked.

Pete spit out vodka, which couldn't have felt that great, and immediately had a coughing fit, so Lindsey smacked him on the back really hard. "Fuck," he gasped. After about a minute and a swig of Patrick's water, he stopped sounding like he was dying.

"I uh...don't think this is a conversation we should have around the others..." Pete muttered.

"Pete you may need a witness incase Patrick kills you," Gerard told him.

"Okay! Well...you know how you called me a bottom on Christmas? Well yeah I am. I've bottomed six times and topped once, all with different people each time. And only one was a girl. The one I topped for. I was a complete fucking whore, and part of the reason I came to Pencey was so I could forget that reputation and have a relationship. I haven't fucked since a month before we came here, and Mikey knows that. He can vouch for that. Patrick, I had actually no intention of having sex with you when we first met. I have no intention until you're ready, cuz Frank told me you were a virgin, even though there was that one time you didn't deny it, Frank officially told me. He literally said, 'Gerard told me you used to be a whore and if you're only with Patrick for sex I'll push you off the dorm roof, got it?' Okay so yeah like I'm not into you just for sex," Pete rambled. Patrick just stared at him and nodded.

  
There were a few minutes of awkward silence, before they got back into the game for another hour, before deciding to head to bed as they were returning to school in the morning.


	14. Is It Still Me That Makes You Cake?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of this was requested by my friend tbh but it kinda fit in anyway. Next chapter is already almost done!

The months flew by with nothing eventful happening, until one Sunday in April.

"Man I need to re-dye my hair," Gerard sighed, running the longish red locks through his fingers. He, along with Frank, Patrick, Pete, Brendon, Mikey, and Ray were sitting outside in the grass between the dorms, spread out on a red and white blanket.

"Hayley has some dye you could probably use," Patrick told him for where he was laying with his head in Pete's lap.

"She's a freshman right?" Gerard asked. Patrick nodded, and told him what dork she was in. "Isn't there some weird system where the freshmen and lower school kids have three to a room?"

"Yup, have fun," Patrick laughed. Gerard groaned before getting up and starting to walk away.

Pete picked Patrick up off his lap and hopped to his feet, and called, "I'm pretty curious so I'm gonna go with him." They all waved goodbye to the two as they made their way to the dorm building at the edge of the lower school campus. "What room was it?"

"201E," Gerard replied. They made their way to the second floor, and we're surprised to only see three rooms per floor. "Here's room one."

He knocked on the door, and there was some shouting, before a short blonde with purple glasses opened the door. For some reason she was wearing a flower crown and black fingerless gloves. "Can I help you?"

"Hey Milly," Gerard chuckled. She flicked her head at him in greeting, and he grinned. "Is Hayley here? I have a question about hair dye."

"Sure, come on in," the blonde told him, disappearing into the room. "HAYLEY THERE'S FUCKBOYS HERE FOR YOU!" She had thrown her flower crown like a frisbee to where it landed on a bed. The gloves soon followed.

Hayley laughed, "Are Pete and Gabe at the door?" She teased, before walking out of the open door leading to a connecting dorm. "Oh...hey Gerard. I'm assuming you need me to re-dye your hair?" Gerard nodded and she led him over to a round, wooden table in front of a wire shelving unit covered in bottles of hair dye. "Red?" Gerard nodded again.

Meanwhile, Pete was standing in the middle of the room, turning in slow circles as he surveyed the dorm in amazement. "These dorms are freaking huge! And they connect...and you have like tables and a couch!" He said in shock. Milly laughed, and so did two brunettes and another blonde, who emerged from the other room.

"I would touch that!" The blonde, who Pete vaguely remembered as Quinn, shouted in a New Zealand accent, as Pete went to pick up a metal thing. He slowly retracted his hand and looked at them questioningly. "Milly made that, if you touch it, paint explodes out of it and gets everywhere."

"PAINT GRENADES! WOOHOO!" Milly shouted, smirking. "I'm using that on that on Al."

"Al?" Pete questioned.

"Al Jones, head douche canoe," one of the brunettes explained, looking bored and crossing her arms. "He's really stupid and tried to cheat off Milly on a test."

"And you're going to paint bomb him?" Pete gaped at her. She nodded proudly, and the brunettes both glared at her.

"HE'S IN FRESHMEN SPANISH! He deserves to fail Renée!" She shouted at the first brunette. "And yes, paint bombed are the only answer."

Gerard laughed as Hayley started applying dye to his hair.

"Hey...can I dye my hair too?" Pete asked shyly.

Hayley grinned widely, "Sure dude, what color?"

"Red? Well not all of it but like. The bangs I guess?" Pete told her, scratching the back of his neck. Milly grinned at him and grabbed the other bottle of fire-truck red dye and a pair of latex gloves, before gesturing for Pete to sit at the table as she stood behind him.

Renée just laughed before having to leave for rehearsal for the school musical. Apparently, auditions had already been held but they didn't find out their parts yet, instead figuring out set and costumes and what not.

"Hey Pete," Sam, the other brunette said. "Did you know Patrick was in the school musical?"

"Wait seriously?" Pete asked.

"He's been in it since he was here in lower school," Quinn told him.

"But I thought Frank and Patrick came here together last year?" Gerard questioned.

"Nah, Frank did but Patrick had been going to the lower school, he just went home every weekend pretty much," Hayley said. "I did too. A lot of kids still do but we've decided against it."

"Oh wow," Pete replied.

"So Gerard, why'd you come here all of a sudden and look super nervous?" Milly asked, running her hands through Pete's hair before picking up part of his bangs and rubbing bleach onto it.

("PETE YOU FUCK WE HAVE TO BLEACH YOUR HAIR TO MAKE IT RED!" She had shouted when Pete shrieked at her for grabbing the bleach.)

"Well my hair was fading at the roots and um...I uh..." Gerard gulped, looking over at Pete nervously. "Well I told you guys I was like...experimenting with my gender identity and stuff..."

"You did?" Pete asked, earning him a smack on the head with the bleach bottle from Milly.

"Yeah...after Christmas, during truth or dare, before we starting talking about your sex life," Gerard laughed. Pete blushed but nodded, remembering it faintly. "Well...I can't, Pete's gonna laugh at me."

"Dude I won't laugh at you! I've known you for like three years or so, nothing surprises me anymore about you," Pete promised.

"Fine!" Gerard gulped again. "Can I paint my nails?" He muttered, looking at Pete. Pete's eyes were wide and his face was blank, before splitting into a huge grin.

"If Gerard paints his nails I get to get mine done too!" Pete shouted.

"Wait what?" Gerard asked.

"Well...not for like gender experimentation or anything but like...black nails are cool," Pete replied shrugging. Gerard beamed at the positive reply, and Quinn and Sam went towards a bin containing nail polish. Sam grabbed the black and moved over to sit next to Pete, before examining his rather short nails. Quinn grabbed the entire bin and made their way over to Gerard, before grabbing a red one, one that matched his hair perfectly.

They just shrugged when Gerard raised an eyebrow. "Red is your color," they told him.

"WE NEED MUSIC BITCHES!" Pete shouted. Milly laughed and kicked the radio behind her before Set It Off started playing.

"WHO AM I KIDDING? NOW, LET'S NOT GET OVER ZEALOUS HERE. YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN A HUGE PIECE OF SHIT. IF I COULD KILL YOU, I WOULD, BUT IT'S FROWNED UPON IN ALL FIFTY STATES. HAVING SAID THAT, BURN IN HELL!" All six of them shouted in time with Wolf In Sheep's Clothing.

About an hour or so later, both of their heads were dyed and their nails were painted. "Thanks guys," Gerard said blushing.

"Anytime!" Hayley called back as the two boys left.

"Hey Gerard," Pete started. "Why were you afraid to admit you wanted to experiment with your gender in front of me?"

Gerard sighed and started biting his nails, causing Pete to grab his wrist and gently pry his hand away from his mouth. "I was afraid you were going to judge me."

"Me? Judge you? Me? Pete Wentz, the most flamboyant whatever-the-fuck-I-am ever? Dude. No way would I ever judge you about anything," Pete told him as he slung an arm over his shoulder.

"Thanks man," Gerard sighed.

"You ready to show the baes our new looks?" Pete said in the highest pitched valley-girl voice he could.

"Uh, like, yeah!" Gerard replied in a similar tone. They found the rest of their friends sitting where they had left them.

"Hey Lunchbox," Pete sighed happily, plopping down next to his boyfriend. "Do you like it?" He asked, biting at his nail polish and he rest his head in Patrick's lap.

"It's cute," Patrick laughed, playing with Pete's hair. "I like your nails too."

~~**~~

"Hey Milly, Quinn," Pete whispered, walking up to the two outside of one of the music rooms. He was surprised they were there as it was seven am the Saturday after the hair dye event.

"Yeah?" Quinn replied, running their hands over their new haircut.

"I want to make Patrick a cake for his birthday. But I have no clue how. Also anyone of my friends would probably tell him. Can you help me, please?" He asked.

"Yeah let's go. I can sweet talk our way into the kitchen," Milly told the two of them.

"She has puppy eyes like you would not believe," Quinn chuckled.

Two minutes later they somehow were alone in the kitchen with everything they needed to make a cake.

"Milly's the art one so she can do any writing you need," Quinn told him.

"Also I'm probably gonna eat a shit ton of batter," she warned him before he started mixing stuff off a recipe he found.

"Okay what if we make a rainbow cake?" Pete said.

"No, you'll probably fuck up a regular vanilla cake. Let's just make a nice, simple, vanilla cake with orange frosting," Quinn replied. "And I guess tiny little frosted rainbows and music notes."

Pete managed not to fuck up the cake, and Milly did end up eating a lot of extra batter as she helped frost the cake. "So what do you want it to say?"

"'Happy Birthday Trick' or something," Pete told her. "Don't actually write the 'or something' part because I know you would." She laughed and write it in plain black icing before drawing some music notes. She showed the other two how to make rainbows and they finished. "It looks awesome -- MILLY NO!" He shouted before Milly threw an egg at Quinn and ran out of the kitchen.

"MILLY FUCK YES!" She cheered running away, Quinn right behind her. Pete laughed and brought the cake to his dorm.

"Tricky wake up," he whispered. It was nearly nine, and he wasn't surprised Patrick was still asleep. The latter groggily opened his eyes as he woke up slowly. "Happy birthday baby," Pete grinned.

"Since when am I 'baby'?" Patrick yawned.

"Since now," Pete laughed, leaning forward to kiss him. "I have a surprise for you."

"Nice," Patrick yawned. "But I gotta pee." He trudged into the bathroom as Pete stuck candles into the cake and lit them. As Patrick left the bathroom Pete started shrieked the lyrics to 'Happy Birthday' before presenting the cake to Patrick. "Woah I love it!"

"I love you," Pete replied.

"Love you too," Patrick grinned, standing on his toes to kiss Pete's cheek. They spent the whole day in their pajamas eating cake and watching movies.

 


	15. Hallelujah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S PROM SEASON MOTHER FUCKERS 
> 
> I don't even have a prom...I'm too young but pROMPOSALS

"GUYS HELP!" Joe shouted as the seven  other guys walked into Elton's class first period that Friday.

"What's up?" Patrick asked, jumping to sit on one of the desks. They still had a good fifteen minutes until class started.

"IwanttoaskAndytoprombutIneedtobecreativeanddon'tknowhow," Joe said in one breath, eyes wide.

"Slow down," Pete told him, taking a bite of his bagel.

"I want to ask Andy to prom but I need to be creative and don't know how," Joe repeated, still rather quickly.

"I HAVE AN IDEA!" Frank shouted, running over to the instruments and grabbing like thirty drumsticks. "CAN I BORROW THESE FOR LOVE?" He shouted to Elton, who looks extremely confused but nodded anyway. He handed some to Joe and gave him directions, before throwing a roll of tape to Pete. The three of them ran over to the window and started screaming frantically at each other, as they taped drumsticks to the window, causing tape and drumsticks to go all over the table in front of said window.

"It's like watching three squirrels do cocaine and then try and change a lightbulb," Elton muttered, causing Mikey and Patrick, the only one's who heard him, to burst out laughing.

"FINISHED!" Frank screamed, the three of them backing me away from the window. They had taped drumsticks to it so that it said 'ANDY, PROM? -JOE' in huge block letters.

"Damn," Elton muttered. "ANDY'S OUTSIDE HE'S COMING!" He then shouted. Joe ran out the door, and they could hear Andy yelp, before he was lead into the classroom by Joe, with the latter's hands over his eyes.

"What are you doing you goof?" Andy chuckled at his best friend as they stopped in front of the window.

"Right okay so uh," Joe started, before seeing Pete mouth, 'breathe' to him. He took a deep breath and just said, "Just read what's in front of you." He removed his hands and it took Andy a second to process it before a huge grin broke out on his face. He turned around and enveloped Joe in a hug, and pressed his face into the latter's neck.

"Yes," he whispered before laughing as Joe returned the hug. Elton pulled a confetti popper out of his desk and pulled the string, causing bits of paper to go over the two boys' uniforms.

"TROHLEY!" Gerard screamed, causing everyone to jump.

"IT'S THEIR SHIP NAME!" Quinn, who was also in that class shouted.

"Fags," a boy muttered.

"FIGHT ME RADKE!" Sam, who along with Quinn and Milly was in the class, screamed before tackling the boy.

"So today we'll be learning some theory," Elton began his lesson, completely unphased by the fact Sam was pummeling a boy on the floor. "Sam I think he gets it, it's kinda a distraction to hear him screaming," Elton sighed. Sam grinned as she jumped up and returned to her seat. "Anyway, we have a lot of stuff to go over before your final performances. I'm assuming you all have those songs started by now, as you only have a month to complete them. And I didn't require one last time, but this time there must be a title included."

After an hour of Elton talking about advanced composition, they moved to their next class, science for all of them surprisingly, just different teachers. "Ready for an hour of the Wicked Witch of the West?" Brendon joked, catching up with Pete and Patrick outside the science building.

"Nope," Patrick replied, popping the 'p'. "And Jones and Radke are in this class. Woo freakin' hoo." Pete squeezed his hand while Brendon pat his shoulder, and then opened the door for the two, entering the classroom behind them.

They took a seat at three desks in front of the lab tables, and talked until the teacher came in. The lesson was boring, as they expected, and so were the lessons they all had for the rest of the day.

Frank was standing out behind his dorm building that night at about seven, sneaking me a cigarette, one of his worst habits, when a crying Brendon ran past him. "Bren buddy what's wrong?" Frank asked, pushing himself off the wall and stopping the other teen.

"Ryan...RYAN CHEATED ON ME!" Brendon shrieked before kicking the brick wall. "HE CHEATED ON ME WITH JON FUCKING WALKER!" He slammed his fists against the wall before a sob wracked his body.

"Damn," Frank muttered, putting out his cigarette. "You know what you need? You need to get drunk. I know just the place." Frank led him to the main building, before signing them both out for an overnight visit to his 'cousin's'. He then led the other boy to Quinn's dinner, which was just about to close. "KELLIN YOU HERE?" He screamed.

"YEAH WHY?" Kellin screamed from the back. He walked out and saw Brendon  sobbing. "Oh man what happened?"

"He got cheated on and needs to drink to forget," Frank told him. "Whiskey if you've got it."

Kellin nodded and returned with two full bottles of whiskey. "So my place is upstairs, just come up when you're done, you know the drill." Frank nodded, as this wasn't his first time drinking himself into a stupor.

Brendon pulled the top of his bottle before sniffling and looking Frank dead in the eye.

"A moment you'll never remember," Frank toasted.

~~**~~

"A night you'll never forget," Pete muttered bitterly to his reflection in the mirror in the bathroom of his and Patrick's dorm. He slammed the bathroom door shut, locking it, and looked at the text from his mom again.

FROM: Mom

Hi Pete, I'm so sorry to tell you this but...with the baby being born and the impromptu foot surgery your father needed, we're very behind on bills, and aren't sure if we'll be able to send you back to Pencey next year. I'm sorry. However, if you make the top fifteen all-state soccer players, you'll get the half-scholarship you need and can go back next year! We just have to wait two weeks until the coach sends us the final ranking. Love, Mom.

Pete's brain was going into over-drive. I won't get it. I won't get to see Patrick again after this year. Jack and Alex both transferred here and Mikey and Gerard's dad is going to make them stay. I have to go back to that hell hole of a school again. I can't. I can't. I can't I just can't go back oh god. By this point he was hyperventilating and he threw his phone at the wall, before pulling at his red and black locks. He screamed, before curling into a ball on the floor. You're not good enough, you're not going to get it. Kiss your happiness goodbye.

"Shut up!" He shouted, before going wide-eyed. The voices were back. The voices were the reason he had to take Ativan. The voices were he almost committed suicide. The voices were the reason he found a shaving razor in his hand. He must've grabbed it off the counter without realizing. Pete gasped and threw the razor as hard as he could at the wall, causing the plastic covering and handle to snap. He picked it up and pulled the rest of the plastic away from the blade, before leaving the bits of blue covering on the ground.

"Pete are you okay?" He heard Patrick ask.

Patrick, who you'll probably never see again, the voice taunted. "SHUT UP!" He screamed again, before grabbing the blade. Do it you little shit. And he gave in, dragging it across his wrist multiple times. Shit no no no, he thought before flinging the blade at the door and pulling his hoodie sleeve down over his wrist.

"Peter you're scaring me," he heard, before the sound of the door knob being twisted, but unable to be opened, filled his ears. "Pete sweetie unlock the door."

Patrick was terrified. He had no clue what was happening on the other side of the door. "Pete I'm gonna call Mikey," he told his boyfriend, before pulling his phone out and dialing Mikey's number. The latter told him he would be right over, and Gerard was with him. The Way brothers arrived and Mikey had the other two back up to Patrick bed, before he starting whispering.

"Pete open the door," Mikey whispered. "I can break it down if you don't, and you know that." The door creaked open and Mikey walked in before shutting and locking it again.

"They're back Mikes," he whispered. "The voices are back again." Mikey's arms went right around Pete's shuddering form and hugged him tight.

"What triggered it, if you're okay talking about it?" Mikey whispered. Pete explained the text and everything going on in his head to Mikey, who hugged him tighter after. "If you have to go back, I'm going with you."

"Thank you," Pete sighed out.

"You gotta talk to Patrick, man, he's freaking out," Mikey told him. The other boy nodded and they both stood up and left the bathroom.

Pete smiled slightly at Gerard, before the Ways left, leaving Pete and Patrick alone. There was about five seconds of awkward silence, before Pete started crying, and Patrick hugged him immediately. "It's okay," he whispered into Pete's ear. Patrick stood on his toes and put his arms around Pete's shoulders and the latter's went around his waist, as he buried his face into Patrick's shoulder and neck. "Petey it's gonna be okay," Patrick whispered again, voice cracking on the last part of the word 'okay'. "I love you Pete."

"I love you too," Pete croaked, before muttering what was bothering him into Patrick's pale skin.

"Pete, just because we might not be in the same school next year doesn't mean we'll never see each other again," Patrick explained to him. "I'm not giving you up that easily."

"Thanks," Pete muttered.

"Did you uh...do anything?" Patrick asked.

"...yeah," Pete spoke so softly Patrick barely heard him.

"Okay come on let's go into the bathroom." Patrick pulled away and led the other into the bathroom. He grappled the small dustpan and brush they kept in there and seeped up the plastic, before picking up the bloody razor and flushing it. He grabbed some gauze and a towel, before having Pete sit on the closed toilet seat. Patrick kneeled in front of him and gently pushed his sleeve up. He looked up at Pete with sympathy in his eyes, before kissing the other boy gently. Patrick cleaned the cuts and wrapped them in the gauze, pressing a feather light kiss to Pete's wrist when he was done. "Come on, let's get to bed yeah?" Pete nodded and collapsed into his bed, thankful he had put sweatpants on before he went into the bathroom. A minute later he felt the bed dip down, and Patrick settle next to him. The black haired boy placed his head on his boyfriend's chest, wrapped his arms around his stomach, and fell asleep rather quickly.

~~**~~

Frank woke up to groaning. He looked around the living room of Kellin's place and saw Brendon on the couch, groaning in his sleep. Frank was on the floor with a huge headache for some fucking reason. Oh. Oh yeah. He and Brendon got drunk off their asses the night before. He was just glad they both had clothes on, as if they'd fucked when they were that drunk it wouldn't have occurred to them to do so. "Brendon wake the fuck up," Frank hissed, throwing a pillow at the brunette.

"Frank? The fuck?" Brendon winced. "Ow." Frank grabbed the bottle of Advil off the table, took two, and tossed it to Brendon. They both dry swallowed the pills and ventured into the kitchen, where they were met with Vic in his underwear.

"KELLIN THERE'S TEENAGERS HERE WHAT THE FUCK?" Vic screamed before running down the hallway.

"Oh yeah, they wanted to get drunk and stayed over. I forgot to tell you. Oops," Kellin shouted.

"We're gonna head out," Brendon told them. "Feel free to continue your sex-capades.

The two borrowed some of Kellin's sunglasses and left. Frank was still in his uniform and blazer, his hair and clothes a mess. They hobbled back to school and saw Gerard, Mikey, and Ray standing in the yard, doing god knows what. Frank waved but went back to his dorm and collapsed onto his bed.

"Are you hungover?" His roommate, Brian, asked.

"No," Frank spat. "Mind your own business." He threw the sunglasses off onto the floor.

"Pick those up," Brian told him.

"Nope," Frank sighed, before he felt them being thrown at the back of his head. "Watch it asshole," he hissed. He put his face back into his pillow and fell asleep.

~~**~~

"Chill Trick," Pete chuckled.

"I can't chill!" Patrick screamed. "We're getting our parts today and I'm nervous cuz I want to get the lead but at the same time there's no chance in hell I want the lead cuz like anxiety but I really want to lead."

"You'll get it," Pete told him, as they walked into the auditorium.

"You know Gerard, Frank and Ray auditioned too?" Patrick rambled. "Oh and they made Mikey audition too. And Lindsey and Ashlee did too. Oh yeah, Jack and Alex go here now and they auditioned too. So basically everyone but you." They say next to their aforementioned friends and grinned as Mr. Hoppus, the drama teacher, took the stage.

"Right okay right down to it," he announced. "I just want to explain something before I let you guys see the list. I picked a sophomore for the lead of Danny. He was really the only person who had a big enough vocal range. I'm just gonna announce the leads of Danny and Sandy. Mr. Patrick Stump, a sophomore, and Ms. Elisa Yao, a Junior. Congratulations I guess." Everyone clapped as the two grinned. "Why are some of you here, you aren't part of theater?" Mr. Hoppus muttered. "Okay come read the list and then I have more announcements.

The list of main roles read:

Patrick as Danny   
Elisa as Sandy  
Ashlee as Frenchy  
Lindsey as Marty  
Jamia as Rizzo   
Alicia as Jan   
Gerard as Sonny   
Frank as Kenickie   
Mikey as Putzie   
Ray as Doody  
  


"Don't you have to kiss Elisa?" Pete asked. Patrick nodded and squeezed Pete's hand with a smirk.

"Don't worry it won't mean a thing," Patrick laughed, before kissing the pouting Pete's cheek.

"Okay so we always have people play the music live," Mr. Hoppus told them. "We have everyone except a bass player. Anyone play bass?"

"I'll do it," Pete told him.

"Alright, cool, Mr...um..." Hoppus trailed off.

"Wentz, sir," Pete smirked.

"Oh. You're Pete Wentz?" He asked

In a neutral tone.

"Yes...is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"It's a...well just don't break anything, please," Mr. Hoppus grinned.

Pete laughed, "Will do, sir!" He then mock saluted with two fingers and had a huge smirk on his face. Patrick looked at him with raised eyebrows. "He's my uncle, he was just kidding not knowing who I was." They all nodded and headed outside, and Patrick ran over to Milly, Sam, and Quinn, who were seated on the grass. They were what Patrick and Gerard referred to as 'their gender-nonconforming consultants with no  strong connection to the male gender', as the three of them, along with Lindsey and Ashlee, were the only non-males they were friends with, and sometimes men were dumb (but not all men!) and you needed a different opinion that wasn't being mainly controlled by a dick.

"Hey Little Red," Quinn grinned.

"Rude," Patrick huffed, before grinning. Pete sat down next to him, and the rest of their friends went somewhere else. "But I got the lead in the play!" He beamed. The three cheered for him, and Milly pulled a confetti popper out of her bag. "Where did you and Elton get those?"

"I'm the Prank Prince," Milly told him. "Also I gave him like ten of them."

"Prince?" Pete questioned.

"I'm a demigirl and sometimes identify as a guy, and I hate being called a princess. So I'm a Prince," she smirked.

"You're also a freaking nerd," another girl said.

"Anne! Yo!" Sam called to the girl with the blonde bun.

"Sup," she grinned, pushing up her black glasses.

"Patrick got the lead in a play and has to kiss a girl so Pete's playing jealous boyfriend," Quinn smirked. Anne laughed, just as a teen with bright red hair like Gerard's was chasing after who Patrick was pretty sure was a Junior named Andy Biersack. They were holding a spoon and threatening to cut his dick off with it, but had a huge grin, so they knew they were joking.

"Well that was interesting," Pete joked. "Oh Patrick, wanna go to prom?"

"Sure," Patrick beamed.

"BOO!" All four screamed in unison.

"That was lame, Joe gets more points than Pete for his prom-posal," Sam told him.

  
Patrick laughed before standing up and heading off with Pete, to their dorm where they just wrote their new song for the rest of the day.


End file.
